The world’s biggest hospitality chain plans to open Dubai’s first fully solar-powered hotel. InterContinental Hotels Group aims to open the 170-room Hotel Indigo in the first half of 2017 as the city invests heavily in renewable energy projects. It will use solar power for all its energy needs and recycle all waste water and waste generated.

“We were seduced by their plans of waste and energy management,” said Pascal Gauvin, regional chief operating officer for IHG.

The hotel will be built in Sustainable City which is under development in Dubailand near Arabian Ranches.The project has been designed to generate 10MW of peak solar power and will be home to as many as 2,700 residents. The aim is to connect solar panels across the development to the electricity grid.

“The villas will have electricity bills that are 25 to 30 per cent lower than similar sized villas elsewhere,” said Faris Saeed, the chief executive of Diamond Developers, the real estate company behind the project.

IHG currently has 18 hotels open in the UAE, with another 10 hotels due to open in the next three to five years.

// thenational.ae