Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | FNC benchmarks DEWA as role model for services to Emiratis

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has welcomed members of the Technical Affairs, Energy, and Mineral Resources Committee of the Federal National Council (FNC). The delegation included Afra Al Basti, Rapporteur of the Technical Affairs, Energy and Mineral Resources Committee of the FNC, Khaled bin Zayed Al Falasi, and Dr Jaber Al Zaabi, Assistant Secretary General for Meetings and Committees of the General Secretariat of the FNC. This is part of the Committee’s work plan to discuss the policy of the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA). The plan includes organising field visits to review the services provided to customers and listen to the opinions of stakeholders and citizens. Recommendations are included in the Committee’s report, which will be discussed by the FNC.

The meeting was attended by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development & Excellence, Dr Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources, Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President of Strategy &Government Communications at DEWA, Abdullah Al Hajri, Executive Vice President of Billing Services, and Jassim Rajab, Financial Controller.

During the meeting, the Committee members discussed the Emiratisation of technical jobs, DEWA’s services for customers, conservation tips and ways to reduce electricity use and costs, DEWA’s renewable-energy projects in 2015-2017, and its policy to recruit graduates in specialised and technical jobs. The Committee’s members also enquired about the challenges facing DEWA in providing services to Emiratis, as well as its most important initiatives and future projects for power plants and water production to meet increasing demand in Dubai.

At the beginning of the meeting, Al Tayer welcomed the FNC delegation, and emphasised the importance of fruitful cooperation between the two sides. He presented DEWA’s programmes, plans, and projects to achieve the directives of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to promote the UAE’s global leadership, and improve performance, productivity, and quality of the service provided to customers. DEWA’s strategy is aligned with the UAE Centennial 2071, the UAE Vision 2021, and the Dubai Plan 2021, to ensure a happy and sustainable future and make the UAE rank first in all areas.

Al Tayer noted that DEWA continuously works to upgrade its services even further, to form a distinctive model to meet all the requirements for development in Dubai. DEWA also provides electricity and water services, in accordance with the highest international standards of availability, reliability and efficiency, to achieve the happiness of all customers and stakeholders.

“Dubai has a holistic view of the energy sector and is managing energy security, sustainability, efficiency and the conservation of energy resources. DEWA is the first government organisation to adopt sustainability as a part of its vision. DEWA’s strategy has evolved to embed the three dimensions of sustainability: economy, society and the environment. These goals give us a fully-integrated sustainable business strategy. This supports global developments and smart technologies to develop business mechanisms to enrich customer experience, and provide seven-star services,” said Al Tayer.

Al Tayer highlighted that DEWA is committed to developing and supporting Emirati talent to meet the UAE National Agenda, in line with our strategy to prepare young Emiratis to take the lead in the energy and water sectors. DEWA’s Emiratisation strategy includes ambitious programmes to train and prepare Emiratis for technical and engineering jobs. DEWA provides various scholarships to Emirati students who wish to further their studies in the energy sector. This is part of DEWA’s strategy to appoint Emiratis to leading positions within it. DEWA has achieved excellent results in Emiratisation, with UAE nationals holding 85.45% of senior management positions.

“We have a vision that is clearly outlined in the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050. We are securing our supply by diversifying the energy mix, to include clean energy to provide 7% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2020, 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. DEWA has launched several projects and initiatives to achieve this objective, such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world. It will generate 5,000 MW by 2030,” added Al Tayer.

“DEWA has become a leader in managing projects that are based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. There are a number of socio-economic advantages to the IPP model. Dubai has developed a robust regulatory framework to encourage the private sector to invest. This has enabled DEWA to achieve world-class results and set a new global standard by achieving world records in solar power prices. DEWA also launched the R&D centre in the solar park to focus on four key operations. These include producing electricity using solar power, the integration of smart grids, energy efficiency, and water. AED 500 million will be invested in R&D up until 2020. DEWA is also building the Innovation Centre, which will develop renewable energy technologies. It will act as a museum and exhibition for solar and renewable energy. It will attract tourists, universities, schools, companies, and partners. DEWA strives to achieve the Demand Side Management Strategy to reduce energy and water use by 30% by 2030, and works tirelessly to build a robust infrastructure to enhance its total production capacity, which is currently 10,200MW of electricity and 470 million imperial gallons of desalinated water per day (MIGD),” added Al Tayer.

“The UAE, represented by DEWA, has achieved first place globally for getting electricity, according to the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2018. DEWA also won the highest award in the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. DEWA is the first organisation outside Europe to receive this international award as a first applicant, and now ranks in the Platinum category. This is the highest category of excellence, and DEWA is the first and only organisation in this category in the energy sector. In terms of performance, we have achieved various global achievements. For customer minutes lost, DEWA recorded 2.6 minutes, which is the lowest in the world, compared to 15 minutes recorded by leading utilities in the European Union. DEWA has reduced losses in power transmission and distribution networks to 3.3%, compared to 6-7% in Europe and the USA. Water network losses decreased to 8%, compared to 15% in North America,” said Al Tayer.

“DEWA’s sustainable building is a model for green buildings, and promoting the use of clean and renewable energy. It is the first sustainable government building in the UAE and the largest government building in the world to receive a Platinum Rating for green buildings from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). DEWA is also working on its new building, named Al-Shera’a (Arabic for sail), which will be the tallest, largest, and smartest net Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in the world. It is also working on building a hydroelectric power station that will make use of the water stored in the mountains next to Hatta dam. This project is the first of its kind in the GCC, and will produce 250MW. DEWA is also currently working on the 2,400MW Hassyan clean coal power plant. It will be operational in phases in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. DEWA has completed M-Station, the largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE, with a current total capacity of 2,185MW of electricity and 140 MIGD. DEWA aims to add a further 700MW to the installed generating capacity of M-Station. The substation’s total capacity will reach 2,885MW when the project is completed in 2018,” continued Al Tayer.

Al Basti noted that the committee adopted discussing DEWA’s federal policy for electricity and water, to study and report on it within specific themes, most notably DEWA’s strategic plan, the upgrade of services provided to citizens, and the fees of services provided to Emiratis.

Al Basti highlighted that the Committee held several meetings prior to these field visits, where it reviewed DEWA’s strategy, and studied comparative studies and related technical papers. During the field visits conducted last month, the committee met with representatives of municipalities and local electricity and water utilities in the UAE.

Al Basti said that the committee has reviewed the key services provided by utilities to provide electricity and water to Emiratis and she noted that the committee has developed a comprehensive plan, including field visits to many organisations. Also, the committee has held discussions in Umm Al Quwain to identify the challenges facing the Federal electricity and water networks.

Al Falasi noted that the visit aims to learn about services provided to Emiratis, and the most important practices done by local utilities. He stressed that the results of these meetings and visits and the seminar discussed by the committee will be included in the final report, with the recommendations to be submitted to the Council and discussed with the government at its next session. He highlighted that these efforts support the committee’s efforts to strengthen communication between Emiratis and all organisations, utilities, and federal and local agencies. This contributes to providing the best services to Emiratis, in line with the strategy of the UAE. The members of the committee stressed that the council's visit to various organisations, and projects in all regions of the country, aims to enable the council to discuss the subjects included in the supervisory plan adopted during the 16th legislative session. This supports its desire to discuss various issues related to the UAE and its citizens.

The Committee has made several previous visits to Ras Al Khaimah, where it visited the local offices of the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA), and Ras Al Khaimah Municipality. The Committee also visited FEWA in Fujairah, and Fujairah Municipality, and met with representatives of these organisations. During these visits, the committee reviewed the coordination and cooperation between FEWA, the municipalities and other local agencies.