The funding for this project was provided by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT), along with support from the British Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

Dubai’s abundance of sunshine made it an attractive place to set up the Heriot-Watt solar test site. The site can accommodate between 24 and 32 panels at a time, with a weather station providing time data on ambient temperature, sun intensity, humidity, wind speed and direction. 

All data is then linked to a data centre in the University’s campus, allowing the researchers to analyse live data against theoretical models.

“The availability of sun here, with very little cloud cover, means we’re able to get very clean, repeatable testing conditions for solar panels in a way that isn’t possible in the UK and is limited in Europe. Heriot-Watt University has a track record of supporting UK-based companies to develop technology for the UK market and to explore opportunities in the Middle East – and this new facility builds on that,” said project lead, Professor Tadhg O’Donovan.

Technologies that can be tested on the site include solar thermal panels, which typically heat water; solar photovoltaic technologies, which generate electricity; storage and battery devices, or systems that combine a number of these technologies

One of the first companies to use the solar energy test site will be the Glasgow-headquartered Soltropy, which specialises in solar thermal panels for water heating systems.

It will test technology on the Heriot-Watt solar test site with help in the form of funding from the Scottish Food and Drink Net Zero Challenge Fund.

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“We have big ambitions to continue developing our technology, so it’s invaluable for us to have access to a site like this, where we have near ideal weather conditions and can measure performance with real-time weather and environmental data,” said Soltropy managing director Stuart Speake.

Solar panels play a crucial role in decarbonisation efforts, according to O’Donovan. The UAE aims to increase clean energy to 50% of its total energy mix by 2050. In the UK, the government is looking to quintuple solar energy capacity by 2035, hoping to power around 20 million homes with the technology. 

“This provides a unique opportunity for the British industry to test and showcase their technologies, and to explore potential new markets in the Middle East and beyond,” said Nick Boucher, head of the UK Science and Innovation Network for the Gulf Region.