It looks like an image from science fiction: a 262m-tall lighthouse-style tower rising from the centre of hundreds of concentric circles of shining panels. But, if all goes to plan, these ambitious design renderings will become science fact, as the fourth development phase of Dubai’s colossal $14bn solar power park.
In the fossil fuel-rich Gulf, however, the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park, as it is known — which was begun in 2013 and is largely up and running — remains an outlier. Overall, the region’s renewable energy investments have lagged behind China, the US and Europe.
In its 2024 report on energy investment, published this month, the International Energy Agency said the broader Middle East, including countries such as Iran and Iraq, was allocating just 20 cents to renewable energy investment for every dollar spent on fossil fuels — or one-tenth of the global average. The IEA added that, of the $175bn the region was expected to invest in energy projects this year, just 15 per cent would go to clean energy.