UAE produces aluminium using the power of the sun
United Arab Emirates – Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) have announced a new global milestone placing the United Arab Emirates as the first country in the world to produce aluminium using the power of the sun.
The milestone supports the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the most sustainable city in the world and to take the lead in the development and application of scientific and technological advances in the energy sector.
DEWA will supply EGA’s smelter with 560,000 megawatt hours of solar power yearly from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, sufficient to make 40,000 tonnes of aluminium in the first year with the potential for significant expansion. EGA will supply solar aluminium to global customers under the new product name CelestiAL.
Aluminium is used in products and infrastructure from smartphones to skyscrapers. Its uses include applications that contribute to a more sustainable environment from wind farms to electric vehicles, and mass transit to solar panels.
The availability of solar power on the scale needed for aluminium smelting is thanks to the UAE’s significant investment in solar power, including in Dubai by DEWA and its Independent Power Producer (IPP) partners.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, located in Dubai, has a current installed capacity of some 1,013 Megawatts using photovoltaic solar panels. DEWA is implementing an additional 1,850 megawatts of projects using solar panels and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). Eventually, this capacity will reach 5,000MW by 2030.
EGA’s sourcing of solar power from Dubai’s electricity grid will be tracked and traced through the use of the International Renewable Energy Certification System, ensuring that the energy used to produce EGA’s CelestiAL solar aluminium has been sourced from the sun.
