The first Intersolar Middle East in Dubai took place in a historical year. In 2016, Dubai set a new record for the cost of solar power of about 3 US cents per kW/h. During Intersolar Middle East, an extremely low price of 2.42 US cents per kw/h for solar energy was bid during an auction for a solar farm near Abu Dhabi in the UAE. That is by far the lowest solar farm bid. This shows the direction of solar becoming the cheapest energy source compared to all other energy sources, including fossil fuels and nuclear power.
Intersolar Middle East covered the complete value chain of PV with 100 international exhibitors from manufacturing companies as Centrotherm and Schmid, cell and module makers such as Solarworld, Canadian Solar, and Sharp, inverter companies like Fronius and Kaco, up to energy storage solutions from e.g. OutBack Power, and electric vehicles from Microtron Technologies. The exhibition also covered content-wise all PV and CSP related topics. In 2 open rooms, 17 free of charge, CPD certified workshops from IRENA, RENAC and Solar Energy International draw a lot of attention to the international audience. The high attendance of each workshop showed the big interest in content and the need of information to grow the solar business in the region. The Intersolar Study Program on the last day of the exhibition gave the next generation an insight into the chances of the renewable energy industry. This was followed by presentations of the “Young Leader’s Innovation Challenge” winners who received their awards during the conference opening.
The co-located conference with 80 renowned speakers, gave deep insights in all MENA country markets, perspectives in PV development as well as policies and regulations. The need for local manufacturing was discussed as well as the importance of innovative and reliable technologies.
The Global Solar Leader’s Summit and Intersolar Middle East conference was opened by H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and H.E. Dr. Matar Al Neyadi, Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Energy.
One highlight of this year’s conference was the keynote speech by Ben Hill, Vice President of Tesla Energy Europe and Africa about energy storage. Ben Hill also joined the official technical tour to “Dubai Sustainable City”. Faris Saeed, CEO and Co-Founder of Diamond Developers, said: "Our technical tour of The Sustainable City at this year's Intersolar Middle East Exhibition and Conference has provided us with an opportunity to showcase our sustainable community as a model in development, and to discuss innovative solutions with engineers, solar experts and energy specialists. This will help us continue our work for sustainable development and encourage other developers to be part of this green economy."
The second edition of Intersolar Middle East will take place again in Dubai at the DWTC from September 25-27, 2017.