Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | MD & CEO of DEWA inspects R&D Centre at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

 Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has visited the Research and Development (R&D) Centre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This is part of Al Tayer’s field visits to DEWA’s projects.

Al Tayer was accompanied by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence; Dr Saif Almheiri, Vice President of Research & Development; Jamal Shaheen Al Hammadi, Vice President of Clean Energy & Diversification at DEWA; and other DEWA staff. The Centre focuses on four areas of research including producing electricity from solar power and other clean energy technologies; the integration of smart grids; energy efficiency, and water.

The R&D Centre includes indoor labs to study and test system reliability and external field testing of new technologies and equipment, including facilities to study PV modules performance or study and mitigate dust and soiling effects, and water desalination through PV RO. During his visit, Al Tayer was presented with a demonstration of a combined water and power generation system. Another project that is currently in the prototyping stage at the R&D Centre is Albedo Measurement (that measures the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation received on surface) using an in-house developed autonomous rover.

The labs at the R&D Centre apply the best international practices in R&D. DEWA is also using 3D-printing and additive manufacturing as innovative solutions for producing spare parts for its generation, transmission, and distribution divisions, and to support the digitisation of its inventory. This reduces procurement time and costs,  prolongs equipment life, and promotes innovation.

The R&D Centre is a two-storey building covering over 4,400 square metres, with one floor for offices and the other for labs. Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Panels (BIPV) are installed on the rooftop and outer walls of the Centre to produce electricity from clean solar power. It also includes various labs and workshops such as a solar-radiation simulation lab, electronics lab, mechanical lab and chemicals lab. The Centre includes DEWA’s R&D drone lab, built using 3D printing technology. This is the first building in the UAE to be fully-printed onsite, and the first such 3D-printed laboratory building in the world.

DEWA has signed agreements with several national entities, institutions, and companies, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the US Department of Energy, and the Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER) in R&D, on the latest developments in power, water and the environment. DEWA is also collaborating with the United Arab Emirates University and Khalifa University on joint research and studies in renewable and alternative energy.