Dewa’s head office in Dubai

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) is building three 132/11 kilovolt (kV) substations with 45 km of high-voltage (132 kV) cables to meet the requirements of World Expo 2020 which will be held in the city.

The total cost of the electricity projects associated with the event will be Dh420 million ($114.36 million). The authority is also building water transmission networks with pipelines of 600 and 1,200 mm in diameter, pumping stations and distribution stations under a Dh515 million budget.

Visiting the Dewa projects recently was Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Dewa’s MD and CEO, who was accompanied by Hussain Lootah, executive vice president for transmission power, Khalifa Al Mehairi, vice president for distribution maintenance, and Saeed Al Jallah, vice president for transmission projects and permits. 

The substations will all be ready by 2017.

“Dewa’s efforts are focused on establishing an excellent energy infrastructure that meets the emirate’s development needs,” said a Dewa statement. “Dewa has launched a wide variety of initiatives to support this, allocating over Dh2.6 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,” the statement added.

Al Tayer seated at centre during a presentation in Italy on Dewa

Al Tayer seated at centre during a presentation in Italy on Dewa

Al Tayer highlighted that the sustainability commitment was upheld through the assignment of a large part of the budget to clean energy-related projects related to the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE. The strategy would make Dubai’s carbon footprint the lowest in the world. 

One of the projects emerging from the strategy is the solar park named after Sheikh Mohammed 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. 

Budgetary provision has also been made for R&D in renewable energy. The solar park will provide a dedicated supply of 100 MW to Dubai Expo 2020

The Dewa chief stressed that sustainability was a key pillar of World Expo 2020.

Meanwhile, Al Tayer headed a Dewa delegation to Milan, Italy, where he encouraged Italian companies to take part in clean and renewable energy projects in the UAE and the Middle East.

“The UAE and Italy have an important trade partnership, which distinguishes our relationship,” said Al Tayer.

“Currently, around 10,000 Italians live in the UAE, making it the largest Italian community in the Middle East and North Africa. And this is the result of significant growth with 600 Italian companies in the UAE today, up from 200 in 2011,” he said.

“Current bilateral trade between the UAE and Italy is $8 billion, with exports being 90 per cent of total foreign trade, which is $7.1 billion.”