Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | DEWA is Sustainable Energy Partner for World Government Summit 2018

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), announced its participation as Sustainable Energy Partner for the 6th World Government Summit (WGS), during a session entitled ‘Dialogue of World Government Summit 2018.’ The session was held at Jumeirah Mina A’Salam, in the presence of HE Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, and Chairman of the World Government Summit Organisation, HE Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing and Vice Chairman of WGS, HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, HE Shamma bint Suhail Faris Al Mazrui, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, HE Sarah Al Amiri , Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, and HE Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and Managing Direct of WGS.

The Summit will be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on 11-13 February 2018.

“We thank His Excellency Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, and Chairman of the World Government Summit Organisation, and all those involved in this important global event. I am pleased to be here to announce Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s participation as the Sustainable Energy Partner for the World Government Summit 2018. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the World Government Summit in the UAE, to establish it as a global platform for sharing knowledge among governments worldwide, and anticipating the future by harnessing innovation and technology to find effective solutions to the challenges facing mankind. We strive to achieve the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who described the UAE strategy for the future as an “integrated strategy to forecast our nation’s future, to anticipate challenges and seize opportunities.” We are happy at DEWA to share our expertise and experience in shaping the future of energy, by creating a future model for utilities, based on innovative disruptive technologies. These technologies provide smart solutions and services for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and water, as well as clean energy generation. This supports the UAE Vision 2021, and the UAE Centennial 2071,” said Khawla Al Mehairi, EVP of Strategy and Government Communications of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), in a speech delivered on behalf of HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“We will present our holistic view of the energy sector in Dubai through three main themes. The first theme is to produce more clean energy, especially solar energy. In Dubai, we are working on securing and sustaining, and rationalising efficient energy supplies, and contributing to the objectives of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to provide 75% of the Emirate’s energy from clean energy by 2050. This will take place through the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model with a total planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030 at a total investment of AED 50 billion. Upon completion, the solar park will help reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year. Our current photovoltaic and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) IPP-based projects’ capacity exceeds 1,700 MW. We will have an additional 3,300 MW, to reach 5,000 MW by 2030, making the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world,” she added.

“The second theme is the production of desalinated water from solar power. We intend to have 100% of desalinated water production to come from a mix of clean energy that uses both renewable energy and waste heat. This will allow Dubai to exceed global targets to use clean energy to desalinate water. The increase in operational efficiency created by decoupling electricity generation and water desalination will lead to savings of up to AED 13 billion by 2030, and reduce 43 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030. We will be able to produce 750 million gallons of desalinated water per day by 2030, compared to our current capacity of 470 million gallons per day,” continued Al Mehairi.

“The third theme is the reformulation of the institutional work system and the role of utilities. DEWA has a clear strategy for smart and digital transformation, which will embrace all its operations and divisions, to improve efficiency, and achieve the happiness of all its stakeholders.

In accordance with the 10X challenge launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make Dubai 10 years ahead of other global cities, DEWA recognises the importance of anticipating opportunities and challenges and developing long-term proactive plans. We have developed an integrated plan to keep pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution based on enablers including Big Data analysis, Cloud Computing, Block Chain, robotics, decentralisation of services, smart grids, smart transformation of our services and workforce, local and global accelerator programmes, in addition to our efforts in Research and Development, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), 3D-Printing, and the Internet of Things (IoT),” concluded Al Mehairi.