A man stands on a balcony overlooking the Shams 1 concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, in al-Gharibiyah district on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, on March 17, 2013

Dubai launched a project Thursday to build a solar plant to produce 200 megawatt of electricity, as part of plans to generate five percent of the emirate's power from renewables by 2030.

The 1.2 billion dirham ($327 million/277 million euro ) project will be a joint venture between Dubai Water and Electricity Authority and a consortium led by Saudi AQWA and Spain's TSK, the Dubai company's chief Saeed al-Tayer said.

It will represent Phase II at the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum solar park, which is planned to produce 1,000 MW of electricity when completed in 2030, with a total cost of $3.3 billion.

The plant should come on line in April 2017, helping to achieve a reduction of 250,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, the company said.

Unlike neighbouring oil-rich Abu Dhabi, Dubai has a dwindling reserve of crude and has diversified its economy toward trade, transport and tourism.

The Gulf region is one of the world's richest areas in sunshine, but its countries are way behind others in harnessing the energy.

Explore further Dubai inaugurates first phase of mega solar energy project

© 2015 AFP