• Home
• /
• Local business

Dewa invests Dh52 billion in energy-efficiency projects

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has sufficient natural gas reserves and alternative supply sources to ensure its smooth operations of power generation, its top official says.

Dewa managing director and chief executive Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer on Tuesday ruled out any interruption in natural gas supply from Qatar in the wake of current tension between the two countries.

“Dewa has much natural gas reserves, alternative supply sources and plans in case if it is need to. So, there is no need to get worry about interruption in power supply here,” Al Tayer told reporters on the sidelines of the Hermes 10th annual one-on-one conference in Dubai.

Essa Kazim and Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer at the conference in Dubai on Tuesday. — Supplied photo

Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs; Abdullah Al Shaibani, Secretary-General of the Dubai Executive Council, and Essa Kazim, Governor and Chairman of DIFC Authority, attended the conference.

Dewa’s participation in conference is part of its strategy to share its experiences and knowledge, while enhancing cooperation with various global organisations to achieve the vision of Dubai.

Al Tayer emphasized stability of energy resources over the coming five years. Dewa, he said, does not have investments in Egypt right now, but it may think of making investments in Egyptian projects.

“Dubai provides a very reliable, efficient and high quality electricity and water supply, which played a key role in winning the UAE’s bid to host the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.

“Today, we have 9,656MW of power capacity and 470 MIGD of water capacity with over 9,674 employees serving 652,000 customers in Dubai,” said Al Tayer.

He said Dewa is focused on achieving the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, which aims to reduce power and water consumption by 30 per cent by 2030. The authority will diversify its energy mix, where 71 per cent will come from natural gas, 12 per cent from nuclear energy, 12 per cent clean coal, and five per cent from solar energy.

“The authority is diversifying its energy sources,” Al Tayer said, adding that Dewa plans to add clean coal and nuclear energy and other alternative sources to generate power in coming years.

Al Tayer said that Dewa has invested in new projects such as Mai Dubai, a water bottling plant, Empower, Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence, RWE Power International Middle East for consultancy services, and Ducab.

“These initiatives will form the infrastructure for future smart cities, as Dubai aims to become the smartest city in the world under His Highness’s Smart Government initiative.”

“We are transforming Dubai into one of the world’s smartest cities. We will encourage households and building owners to install solar panels to produce electricity, to connect them to the grid. We will buy any excess electricity generated, encouraging the use of renewable energy and increasing its share in the energy mix. We will also build charging stations for electric vehicles,” Al Tayer said.

He said Dewa reduced the losses in the electricity transmission and distribution networks to just 3.46 per cent compared to 6-7 per cent in Europe and the US. “We have also reduced our water network’s line losses to 10.4 per cent compared to 15 per cent in North America, setting another international benchmark.”

“Dewa has an estimated investment of Dh52 billion in energy-efficiency projects and actively promotes conservation. The authority is building the world’s best electricity and water distribution networks at a total investment of Dh7 billion to support its demand side management and Dubai’s Smart Government initiative,” Al Tayer concluded.

— malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com