Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | DEWA visits China to boost energy projects in the UAE and Dubai

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), is heading a high-level delegation on a visit to Shanghai, China, to raise the level of contribution by Chinese companies to energy projects in Dubai and the UAE. The delegation includes Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Development and DEWA, Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA, Mohammed Abdul Kareem Al Shamsi, Acting Executive Director of the UAE Water Aid Foundation and Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communications at DEWA.

During the delegation’s visit to Shanghai, Al Tayer made a speech as part of a meeting that witnessed the attendance of HE Ahmad Al Saadi UAE Consul in Shanghai, in addition to a large number of leading Chinese companies. The speech highlighted DEWA’s ongoing projects and initiatives on clean and renewable energy. Al Tayer also highlighted the development of trade relations between the UAE and China.

“The UAE and China have formed strong ties together as a result of our shared values and our trading and economic interests. We are always interested in building new opportunities and exploring new advances in infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and finance. The foundations of our close ties have grown stronger under the leadership of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai,” said Al Tayer.

“Bilateral trade between the UAE and China is set to exceed USD60 billion by 2016. The annual trade between the two countries has been growing at about 16% during the past six years and is set to increase in the next few years. With 4,200 Chinese companies registered in the UAE, our country is the largest Middle East market for Chinese products,” added Al Tayer.

Al Tayer noted that China is one of the world’s largest energy consumers, according to a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Investments in renewable energy could surpass USD145 billion annually by 2030, totalling USD2.2 trillion.

“Through the UAE Vision 2021, we aim to become one of the best countries in the world by 2021. This in turn, strengthens the UAE’s global competitiveness, especially in renewable energy, and green economy technologies and products. Dubai has a comprehensive vision for a sustainable future which is pivotal to the success of building a green economy.”

“In line with the Dubai Plan 2021, and the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, we aim to be a global role model by supporting Dubai’s economic growth having secured energy supply, using energy efficiently and meeting our environmental and sustainability goals, to make Dubai a global centre for clean energy and green economy. The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to provide 7% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources by 2020. This target will increase to 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. This strategy consists of five main pillars that include infrastructure, legislation, funding, building capacities and skills, and an environmentally-friendly energy mix. The first, Infrastructure, includes initiatives such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site project to generate electricity from solar energy in the world, with a planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030, and total investment of USD13.6 billion (AED 50 billion) to save approximately 6.5 million tonnes per annum in emissions,” continued Al Tayer.

“Our strategy involves moving from a carbon-intensive economy to a greener one, through the Dubai Green Fund, which is worth USD27 billion, encouraging green investments and green growth. DEWA established Etihad ESCO to boost energy performance contracts by providing financial organisations the opportunity to invest in energy-efficient projects and obtain attractive returns, with the new regulatory framework ensuring that all risks are addressed. Financial institutions can become active partners in the sustainable development vision of Dubai, with plans to retrofit 30,000 buildings to make them energy-efficient in the first phase of this project along with our Demand Side Management programme at a cost of AED30 billion, bringing returns of AED82 billion, and a net profit of AED52 billion, as we place great importance on environmental issues that contribute to the sustainable development of the UAE.”

Through our Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, we highlight the benefits of district cooling for both public and private sectors around the world as there is an urgent need to consolidate efforts to address the challenges facing the energy sector and create new business opportunities in renewable and clean energy. The UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2015, to help millions of underprivileged people, who are in desperate need of drinkable water around the world. This initiative also has an annual USD1 million global award, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, to find sustainable solutions for water scarcity, by using solar energy to purify and desalinate water,” added Al Tayer.

“In Dubai we work relentlessly to achieve the Smart Dubai initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to make Dubai the smartest and the happiest city in the world. DEWA is doing this with three smart initiatives. The first, called Shams Dubai, installs solar panels in houses and buildings and connect them to DEWA’s grid. Through this initiative we have launched many solar rooftop projects, among them is the recently-launched photovoltaic project that is one of the largest projects on a single roof top, at our M-station, with a total capacity of 1.5MW. The second is smart applications through smart grids and meters, and the third is the EV Green Charger initiative, where we have already installed 100 electric vehicle charging stations across the Emirate to support the use of electric vehicles in Dubai. The smart grid is a key element in DEWA’s strategy to develop an advanced infrastructure to support Dubai becoming a smart city. Smart Grid also supports our target to reduce energy consumption by 30% by 2030. The smart grid strategy contains eleven programmes with a total investment up to 2020 of USD2 billion.

To contribute to organising the best World Expo in 2020 in Dubai, DEWA has allocated over AED2.6 billion (USD708 million) to support electricity, water, and renewable energy infrastructure projects, according to the highest international standards. In Dubai, we rely on Public Private Partnerships based on Independent Power Producer (IPP) to drive economic prosperity and increase investments in energy, in line with Dubai Government’s strategy to enhance sustainable economic development in the Emirate and build and establish strong partnerships with the private sector. We implemented this successful model in the 200MW second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park,” Al Tayer continued.

Through this model Dubai has set a world record by obtaining the lowest price globally, at USD 5.6 cents per kilowatt (kW) for Shuaa Energy 1, the company established by DEWA to complete the project according to UAE legislation. Based on this model, ACWA Power, with its Chinese partner Harbin Electric Corporation, submitted the lowest bid at 4.5 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the first and second phases of the 2,400MW Hassyan clean coal power plant. The plant will be the first-of-its-kind in the region and is fully-compliant with set international standards, adopting the use of ultra-supercritical technology. DEWA has also awarded a contract for the turnkey construction of the Jebel Ali M-Station expansion. The project is worth AED1.47 billion (USD400 million) and will be completed in April 2018.

M-station is the newest and largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE, with a current total capacity of 2,060MW of electricity and 140 million imperial gallons of water per day. The expansion project includes new power generation units with a capacity of 700MW to be added to the current capacity of the station to eventually produce 2,760MW by 2018,” added Al Tayer. “We are always interested in discovering developments in international technology to further broaden our horizons and team up with Chinese partners in renewable energy,” concluded Al Tayer.