DEWA's preparations for World Expo 2020 in Dubai afoot

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has visited DEWA’s projects in support and preparation for the World Expo 2020.

The move follows the vision of Vice President and Prime Minister of and Ruler of Dubai, His High Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to host the best World Expo the world has ever seen in Dubai.

DEWA is building three 132/11 kilovolt (kV) substations with 45 kilometres (km) of high-voltage (132kV) cables. The total cost of the electricity projects will be AED 420 million. DEWA is also building water transmission networks with pipelines that are 600 and 1200 mm in diameter, pumping stations and distribution stations. With a planned budget of AED 515 million, these projects will increase water-flow rates and ensure an adequate water supply to meet the increasing demands.

Al Tayer was accompanied by Hussain Lootah, Executive Vice President of Transmission Power at DEWA, Khalifa Al Mehairi, Vice President of Distribution Maintenance at DEWA, and Saeed Al Jallaf, Vice President of Transmission Projects and Permits.

He also visited the World Expo 2020 headquarters, and was welcomed by Najeeb Mohammed Al Ali, Senior Vice President of the Unified Project Management Office - Expo 2020, and Ahmed Al Khatib, Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). They discussed progress made in the construction of the exhibition site.

Al Tayer inspected the construction progress of the 132/11 kV substations. This supports Dubai Expo’s theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and its three sub-themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity.

The substations will all be ready by 2017. Mobility will be operational by March, Sustainability by October and Opportunity by December.

DEWA’s efforts are focused on establishing excellent energy infrastructure that meets the Emirate’s development needs. DEWA has launched a wide variety of initiatives to support this, allocating over AED 2.6 billion to boost electricity, water, and renewable energy projects, according to the highest international standards. This contributes towards organising the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, showing the world our excellent public facilities sector, with a focus on exploring clean and renewable energy resources.

"To emphasise its commitment to sustainability, which is one of the main pillars of World Expo 2020 in Dubai, DEWA has also assigned a large part of the budget to clean-energy-related projects in support of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to provide 75% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2050," Al Tayer said.

"This will make Dubai’s carbon footprint the lowest in the world. Most prominent of these projects is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park and the Shams Dubai project to encourage building owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity from solar energy and connect it to DEWA’s grid. DEWA has also budgeted for research and development, and research and innovation in renewable energy. All these will promote sustainable development in the UAE. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park will provide a dedicated supply of 100 megawatts (MW) to Dubai Expo 2020 to manage its energy requirements," he added.

DEWA is contributing to the development of all Expo 2020 facilities and services through its smart initiatives. DEWA has assigned part of the budget to support our leadership's drive to promote initiatives in smart services to make Dubai the smartest city in the world, in line with the Smart Dubai initiative launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. DEWA is one of the leading government organisations in terms of adopting and launching smart initiatives and services.

DEWA is supporting the Smart Dubai initiative, with Shams Dubai contributing power from solar arrays installed on Expo 2020’s buildings. The Expo will also have three different types of electric vehicle charging stations from the Green Charger initiative: Fast-charging stations that take 20-40 minutes, medium-charging stations that take 2-4 hours, and home charging stations that take 6-8 hours.

As part of the Smart Applications and Smart Meters initiatives, DEWA is building a smart grid to become the first network in the world to provide th entire value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution systems to the Expo. The smart grid includes demand-side management, asset management, distribution automation, substation automation, system integration, and smart meters.

DEWA plans to install one million smart meters by 2020 across Dubai, and replace all mechanical and electromechanical meters during the next few years.

DEWA has allocated AED 7 billion worth of investments to the development of smart grids. This will contribute to achieving the Smart Dubai initiative, and DEWA’s Shams Dubai initiative to generate electricity from solar power in buildings, and connect them to DEWA's grid, as well as other infrastructure and electric vehicle charging stations.

Source:WAM