Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | MD & CEO presents DEWA’s work on innovation and sustainability to UK Energies Industries Council

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), gave a keynote speech in the plenary session about DEWA’s work on innovation and sustainability at The Energy Industries Council Conference, which is organised by the UK Energy Industries Council (EIC) at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The plenary session included HE Dr Matar Hamed Al Neyadi, Undersecretary of Ministry of Energy and Industry, HE Philip Parham, British Ambassador to the UAE and Stuart Broadley, Executive Chairman of the UK Energy Industries Council. The conference included an exhibition to show innovative technologies, products and services, the current and future opportunities in the energy sector. It has involved companies and suppliers from Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

“I would like to thank the UK Energy Industries Council (EIC) for organising this conference and for this invitation to present Dubai's experiences in increasing renewable and clean energy share and contributing to the advancement of the UAE’s sustainable development. The UAE and the UK have strong economic, strategic and cultural ties. These strong relations were established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founder of the UAE, may his soul rest in peace. In 2018, we celebrate the Year of Zayed, which marks 100 years since his birth. The mutual relations between our two countries are closer today than ever before under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA in his speech.

“The UAE is Britain’s top Arab trade partner, and its 11th largest international trade partner, with trade exceeding 20 billion US dollars. There are 120,000 British expatriates living in the UAE and 1.5 million British tourists per year. Thousands of Emiratis travel to the UK to visit, work or study at its distinguished universities and academic centres. This has encouraged leading British companies to undertake major projects and join over 5,000 British companies operating in the UAE, and we hope this number will continue to grow. The UAE has established strong ties with the UK in various fields such as trade, investment, energy, climate change, culture, education, health, sports, international development and foreign relations. The UAE has become a global model for sustainable development, based on the vision of our wise leadership, who is shaping the future to get ready to export the last barrel of oil. We are doing this by implementing quality projects to increase our share of renewable energy within our energy mix,” said Al Tayer.

“To achieve our vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has aligned its strategy to the UAE Centennial 2071, the UAE Vision 2021, the Dubai Plan 2021, the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, the Demand-Side Management Strategy 2030, the UAE Green Growth Strategy and other relevant strategies. DEWA, as a provider of electricity and water, has an integrated value-chain from planning, generation, transmission, distribution to delivering the best customer services. We are working to provide the finest government services with the highest levels of efficiency, reliability and availability, to achieve the highest happiness rates of our stakeholders. However, the journey is a continuous one. DEWA is serving over 800,000 customers. Its assets exceed 144 billion Dirhams and our investments will amount to 81 billion Dirhams over the next five years to meet growing demand for electricity and water in the Emirate,” continued Al Tayer.

“The results of DEWA’s efforts were excellent, by all standards. Many processes for development and improvement have been introduced to the production and operational processes to raise efficiency and reducing costs. One of DEWA’s major projects is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site solar park in the world. It will produce 5,000 MW by 2030, at a total investment of 50 billion Dirhams. Upon completion, the solar park will help reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year.”

“We’ve adopted the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model to enhance public-private partnerships. Through this model, we have reached the lowest international prices. DEWA has over 4,000MW of IPP projects underway, in partnership with the private sector at a total investment of 30 billion Dirhams,” explained Al Tayer.

DEWA has made many local and international achievements. The UAE, represented by DEWA, ranked first in the world in getting electricity in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report. DEWA’s global achievements confirm the success of its effective and sustainable practices in improving energy efficiency on both supply and demand. DEWA succeeded in reducing Electricity Line Losses from 7% to 3.3% and Unaccounted for Water from 42% to 7.1% and these are global benchmarks. Customer Minutes Lost reached 2.68 per year compared with 15 minutes for leading utilities in Europe and the USA. The fuel efficiency of DEWA’s latest power plants increased to about 90%. The generation efficiency increased by 28.86% from 2006 to 2017. These achievements stem from DEWA’s efforts to ensure excellence in all its operations.

“Innovation is part of DEWA’s corporate strategy. DEWA has worked to create innovative solutions that produce great results, saving both time and effort. We are keeping pace with the 4th Industrial Revolution, and adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to support the Dubai 10X initiative, which is set to propel Dubai into the future for a better future, for generations to come. 

We launched a new initiative that reforms the concept of service organisations and creates a new digital future for Dubai through Digital DEWA, the digital arm of DEWA. DEWA Digital will enable us to apply a pioneering model for service organisations based on innovation on its four pillars of renewable energy, storing energy, AI, and digital services,” added Al Tayer.

“In Dubai we are always interested in discovering developments in international technology to further broaden our horizons and team up with international partners in clean and renewable energy and exchange the best practices and expertise in innovative technology to improve our services. I am sure there is much that British companies can offer in the UAE. Finally, in the Year of Zayed, and with the determination of the people of Zayed, we will continue our focus on sustainable development, to make the UAE a key global player in sustainable development.” concluded Al Tayer.