By Nneka Nwogwugwu
In a bid in helping Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries build low-carbon and clean energy infrastructure, Shanghai Electric has implemented green construction practices in its efforts to protect local ecological systems and minimize the impact on animal habitats.
Shanghai Electric’s continued commitment to environmental protection have seen the Company’s engineer teams working with ecologists to preserve local wildlife as it supports the United Arab Emirates to accelerate towards net-zero carbon targets by building the world’s largest solar thermal power project for local residents.
As the official partner of the China Pavilion at the Dubai World Expo 2020, Shanghai Electric has participated in the construction of the 950MW fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.
The project, which includes a 700MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant and a 250MW photovoltaic (PV) plant, covers an area of 44 square kilometers, an equivalent of 6,162 football fields. Standing in the center of the CSP plant is the 100MW solar power tower, which measures 262 meters in height – the tallest of its kind in the world – and is expected to deliver clean energy to over 320,000 Dubai households and abate 1.6 million tons of CO2 emissions upon completion.
Working with local animal protection agencies, Shanghai Electric set up a specialist team tasked with studying animal behaviors and finding an effective solution to guide the wild animals out of the construction site. The team then decided to fence up the site and put food and water at the openings spaced at 200 meters to lure the animals so they could safely relocate the animals to other areas.
In this way, Shanghai Electric has protected a myriad of animal species native to Dubai including lizards, camels, sword antelopes, and foxes.
Recognizing Shanghai Electric’s contribution to environmental protection during the construction of the Dubai CSP project, Emirates Environmental Group, the largest NGO dedicated to environmental conservation in the UAE, invited Shanghai Electric to take part in the “For Our Emirates We Plant” event in 2020 and 2021, and planted eight Sidra trees in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the name of Shanghai Electric.
“The Dubai project covers an extensive area of land which is home to numerous wild plants and animals, complicating the environmental management measures that are necessary to maintain the local biodiversity intactness. The team took into account all factors that might pose a threat to the wildlife, protecting the local ecological system while helping the Dubai government to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” said Zhao Hui, the manager of the Dubai project.