Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | HE Saeed Al Tayer discusses cooperation with France’s satellite operator Eutelsat

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), welcomed a high-level delegation from France’s satellite operator Eutelsat, headed by Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat.

The delegation included Cyril Dujardin, General Manager of the Connectivity BU; Ghassan Murat, Head of Connectivity BU, MENA, Africa and Asia; and Hani El Arja, VP of Connectivity BU MENA & Central Asia. The meeting, which took place at DEWA’s headquarters, was attended by Waleed Bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA; and Marwan Bin Haidar, Executive Vice President of Innovation and the Future at DEWA.

At the beginning of the meeting, Al Tayer welcomed the visiting delegation, emphasising DEWA’s keenness to cooperate with leading international companies for the continuous development of its operations. He highlighted DEWA’s key initiatives and projects to promote sustainability, renewable and clean energy, and energy efficiency. These include DEWA’s space programme (Space D), which supports the National Space Strategy 2030, which aims to achieve the UAE’s vision in space exploration, technologies and related applications.

 Al Tayer noted that DEWA is the first utility in the world to use nanosatellites to enhance the efficiency and operational effectiveness of electricity and water networks. It also focuses on digital transformation as well as adopting the disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and smart grids.

Al Tayer said that the Space-D programme has contributed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of DEWA’s operations and supported the digitisation of the electricity and water transmission and distribution networks, in addition to integrating IoT using DEWA’s cloud services. The satellite technology is complementary to the terrestrial IoT communications network, enhancing DEWA’s resilience and agility in monitoring and managing the electricity and water networks, reducing costs and improving asset utilisation and management.

Cooperation between DEWA and Eutelsat aims to explore the potential integration of Eutelsat Earth Low Orbit (ELO) satellites with the Space-D programme and expand the fleet of nanosatellites for both parties. The two parties will develop use-cases for advancing the utility sector worldwide.