Dubai: UAE’s businesses are taking to solar in a big way - Al Bayader International, the packaging company, has commissioned a solar panelled rooftop at its manufacturing facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone. The project installation was done by France’s TotalEnergies and is reckoned to be the ‘first and largest solar rooftop’ in the food packaging sector).
The 980 kWp solar rooftop plant spans 4,000 square metres and will generate over 1.5 GWh of clean electricity annually. “The solar rooftop serves the twin objectives of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the dependence on the public sector power grid by generating clean energy at source,” said Habiba Al Marashi, co-founder and Chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group (EEG)
Al Bayader’s solar rooftop is part of the Shams Dubai programme. The latest installation will offset 700 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually - equivalent to planting over 17,000 trees. Through this project, TotalEnergies established its regional presence in the UAE.
Nidal Haddad, Founder and CEO of Al Bayader International, said: “Integrating the solar panels on the rooftop of our advanced manufacturing plant will enable us to make long-term financial savings on energy costs and also conserve the environment, contributing to a more sustainable future.”
A hypermarket too
Meanwhile, the hypermarket operator Nesto installed a 2.5MW rooftop solar plant using Tier-1 modules. With two more MW currently being put up, the project will go live by the end of the year and offset 1,860 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to taking 385 cars off the road.
According to K. P. Basheer, Chairman of Nesto Group, the solar plant can generate 4.3 million solar electricity units annually. Currently, the solar plant facilitates 77 per cent of all electricity needed by the facility, making it one of the ‘greenest’ warehouses in Dubai.
