he-saeed-mohammed-al-tayer-we-have-taken-decisions-to-determine-the-future-of-electricity-grids-up-t

During his speech at “Smart Electricity World” Conference HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer – MD & CEO of DEWA said in his speech at “Smart Electricity World” Conference, currently being held in Dubai, in the presence of Engineer Ali Al Barrak, CEO of Saudi Electricity Company, and a large number of energy experts and CEOs from GCC countries that over many decades, electricity grids have continued to evolve and serve the electricity needs of society and in doing so deliver reliability of supply and demand security economically and efficiently. However, there are great many new challenges now facing us and we need to respond and make decisions today that will shape our electricity grids in 2020 and beyond. “In DEWA, we are building on several major achievements on our SmartGrids journey, as Electricity and water are inextricably linked. I believe that future SmartGrids should take a holistic approach to ensure that any synergies and benefits are leveraged. For the MENA region, some of these are environmental, rising population, rising demands for electricity and water, the imperative of maintaining security of supply, sustainable supply and of course ensuring that this supply is affordable.” HE Saeed Al Tayer added. HE Saeed Al Tayer said: “We adopt the most efficient combined cycle-cogeneration process in power generation and desalinated water production facilities and, despite the harsh climatic conditions, we have increased our plant efficiencies using new and smart gas turbine technologies with little additional Capex. We have already implemented a number of smart technology measures on our electricity networks such as using the latest SCADA systems, intelligent asset monitoring, control and automation. We have improved the distribution network efficiency by conversion of most of our 6.6 kV networks to more efficient 11 kV networks. We have succeeded in reducing substantially our electricity network losses and our unaccounted-for water through network rehabilitation and more optimal network design, engineering, maintenance and procurement.” HE pointed out: “On our SmartGrids journey, we have interconnected our electricity grid with neighbouring utilities “On the demand side, it’s almost 3 years since the launch of Dubai’s Sustainability drive, marked by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Initiative on Green Buildings. Through new methods of design, construction and operation, electricity and water consumption will substantially be reduced. Other conservation measures implemented are the provision of energy saving light bulbs, replacement of inadequate water taps and installation of smart control systems in buildings to optimise the consumption of electricity and water.”, H.E said. “At DEWA, we are fully aware that maintaining security of supply for electricity and water through a strategy of optimal and diverse generation fuel mix is very important for us. We see IGCC and Clean Coal etc, as potential future clean energy sources. In addition, we see small size, distributed, clean, indigenous energy sources such as renewable solar energy as having the potential to make a valuable contribution to our future electricity supply mix as the techniques of solar energy continue to improve.” “Rolling out smart electricity and water meters, introducing smart technologies that can control various types of domestic, commercial and industrial demand to act as virtual generation; etc; all present not only new challenges to the Grid but also new opportunities. Smart transportation e.g. Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Hybrid EVs require clear planning and grid integration strategies to ensure that challenges are overcome and grid opportunities are grasped.” HE stated. HE Saeed Al Tayer concluded: “We believe that there are still many barriers to the future of SmartGrids that would need to be overcome. Some of these are: cultural barriers e.g. consumer behaviors, costs of development and implementation, high uncertainty, perceived complexity and cyber security risks where the internet is used as a communication medium. The road to get there on the SmartGrids journey may include: new legislations policies and regulations, provision of incentives for investment, demonstration projects, new technical standards, validation that new complex SmartGrids systems are effective and safe, and of course, more R&D and industry/academia collaboration.”