DEWA inaugurates one of the largest roof-top 1.5 MW arrays in MENA at Jebel Ali Power Station

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has inaugurated one of the largest single-rooftop arrays in the Middle East and North Africa, a 1.5 megawatt direct current (MWdc) photovoltaic generation project at Jebel Ali Power Station (JAPS), and successfully connected it to DEWA’s grid.

This supports the Shams Dubai initiative, which is inline with the Smart Dubai initiative, launched by Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world.

This will engage the community in the production of electricity from solar energy, preserve the environment and lower the country’s carbon footprint, while also encouraging the development of a green economy to achieve sustainable development. Shams Dubai allows customers to install photovoltaic panels on their rooftops to generate electricity from solar power.

The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s network. The inauguration was attended by Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation at DEWA, Mansoor Al Suwaidi, Vice President for Generation Projects at DEWA, and other members of staff.

DEWA installed 5,240 photovoltaic panels on the 23,000 square-meters of the roof of the water reservoir at M-Station, which is the newest and largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE.

The modules will produce 1.5 MW by converting solar energy into electricity, which will be used to meet the station’s energy needs, and will generate 2,666 MW/h of clean electricity annually. The project aims to increase dependence on renewable energy, and reduce the carbon emissions produced by different operations at the station, the project also expects to see an annual carbon dioxide reduction of about 1,600 tonnes. Surplus energy will be exported to an internal power network at DEWA’s Jebel Ali unit.

"We support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to diversify Dubai's energy mix to include 25per cent from solar energy, 7per cent from clean coal, 7per cent from nuclear power, and 61per cent from natural gas by 2030. The mix will gradually increase the employment of clean energy sources to 75per cent by 2050," said Al Tayer.

"The solar energy connected to DEWA’s grid is derived from two sources. The first is DEWA’s solar power plants at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, one of the largest single-site solar energy projects in the world. the park is managed by DEWA in cooperation with the private sector. The solar park’s capacity will be 5,000 MW by 2030, and will help reduce 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions yearly, supporting the green initiatives and programmes carried out by the government to reduce carbon emissions. The second is electricity produced from small and medium solar-energy systems. This is done by installing photovoltaic panels on rooftops of buildings and connecting them to DEWA’s grid as part of its Shams Dubai initiative, launched by DEWA. The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s network," added Al Tayer.

DEWA has started using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to check on the photovoltaic panels on the roof of the water reservoir.

Source:WAM