Acwa Power’s 100 MW solar tower in the fourth phase of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai is now operational, the company said in a filing to the Saudi stock exchange last week. This brings the current production capacity of the 950 MW fourth phase of the 5 GW project to 517 MW. Noor Energy 1 — a company co-owned by Acwa Power and Dubai’s Water and Electricity Authority established to develop the fourth phase of the project — had reported that the phase was 92% complete back in January. Acwa expects the fourth phase to be entirely operational by 1Q 2024.

The UAE, India, Israel and the US are exploring the possibility of setting up a 300 MW wind and solar station in India’s Gujarat under their I2U2 platform, Wam reported last week. The I2U2 group is a quadrilateral platform established in 2021 by the four countries to “encourage cooperation on geo-economic initiatives.” During the bloc’s first virtual meeting last July, the countries agreed to Emirati and Israeli support for USD 300 mn worth of clean energy projects in India.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Saudi-based food processing and packaging solutions company Tetra Pak Arabia signed a EUR 7.6 mn agreement with KSA’s Alesayi Beverage Corporation to provide the latter with processing equipment for its solar-powered beverage production facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Zawya)
• Abu Dhabi’s Barakah Nuclear Power Plant’s third unit began commercial operations on Friday, adding 1.4 GW of clean electricity to the UAE’s national grid. (Statement)