Dubai Electricity & Water Authority | Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer invites Polish companies to participate in clean and renewable energy projects in the UAE

A delegation headed by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), is visiting the Republic of Poland .

HE Al Tayer is accompanied by HE Ahmed Butti Al Muhairbi, Secretary General of Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; Waleed Salman, Chairman of the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (Dubai Carbon); Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA; Ali Al Jassim, CEO of Etihad Energy Services (Etihad ESCO); Abdul Rahim Sultan, Director of WGEO and Mohammed Abdulkareem Al Shamsi, Acting Executive Director of UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia).

During the visit, HE Al Tayer delivered a speech at a meeting in the city of Katowice, attended by HE Dr. Yousef Al Sabri, UAE Ambassador to Poland and a number of leading Polish and international companies. Al Tayer highlighted DEWA’s main projects in clean and renewable energy. The meeting discussed the development of trade relations between the UAE and Poland.

“It is an honour to be here in Poland to address you all, and I would like to welcome you to this meeting, to highlight Dubai’s major projects and initiatives in the energy and water sector. The United Arab Emirates and Poland have formed strong ties that have grown stronger under the 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. The United Arab Emirates boast of almost three-decade old strong bonds with Poland. Areas of cooperation between the two countries include political dialogue, sports, defence and trade ties since the exchange of embassies in 1989. The trade ties are worth USD 800 million now and the highest was USD 1billion in 2014,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer during his speech.

“The UAE has developed various strategies and initiatives to realise the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071 to make  the UAE the best country in the world. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has investments of over USD 22 billion (AED 81 billion) for the next five years, to meet growing demand for electricity and water in Dubai. Today, DEWA has a strong infrastructure, to meet the ever-increasing demand and support the growth of a green economy and create a competitive advantage for the UAE in clean energy and energy-efficiency technologies,” Al Tayer added.

“DEWA is currently working on the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, based on the IPP model, with a  capacity of 5,000MW by 2030 using a mix of Photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies. This supports DEWA’s approach towards innovation in clean energy, and the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to provide 75% of Dubai's total power output from clean energy sources by 2050.

Since 2014, DEWA has been a pioneer in managing projects based on the IPP model through which DEWA achieved world-class results, and set new global records for low power prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This has led to long-term stable energy prices for customers in Dubai. The competition created amongst developers by DEWA in its IPP projects has resulted in significantly reduced CAPEX per megawatt of installed capacity compared to the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) model, leading to a more efficient utilisation of available economic resources.  DEWA has attracted major inward investments from the private sector and foreign banks, resulting in major cash inflows into the Dubai and UAE economy. The project companies created by DEWA and our private sector partners place an emphasis on employment and knowledge transfer to Emirati employees, thus directly benefiting the local community. Currently, DEWA has more than 4,000 MW of IPP projects in the pipeline, in partnership with the private sector and total investment of over  USD  8.1 billion (AED 30 billion),” said Al Tayer. 

“DEWA has adopted innovation, and has prioritised this in its strategy and is using the disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), energy storage, data protection, blockchain, and Big Data to achieve this. DEWA has also launched Digital DEWA, DEWA’s digital arm. DEWA has adopted a pioneering model of service organisations based on innovation in renewable energy, energy storage, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and digital services,” added Al Tayer.

“In Dubai, we are always interested in exploring developments in international technology to further broaden our horizons and team up with international partners in energy while helping them to develop their innovative technology to improve our services. I am positive that there is much that Polish companies can offer to the UAE and the region,” concluded Al Tayer.