DEWA delegation visiting Russia to promote opportunities for joint cooperation

A high-level delegation from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), headed by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, is on a visit to Russia to promote opportunities for joint cooperation with electricity, water, environment, renewable and clean energy businesses there.

The delegation includes Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President-Strategy & Business Development; Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support & Human Resources, Mohammed Abdulkarim Al Shamsi, Acting Executive Director of the UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) and Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communication at DEWA.

Al Tayer delivered a seminar on business opportunities for water, clean energy and environmentally-sustainable services in Dubai, in Moscow.

Al Tayer highlighted the development of the bilateral relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the Russian Federation, where the trade exchange UAE and Russia exceeded USD 2.5 billion (AED 9.2 billion) in 2015, showing the strong ties between both countries.

“The bilateral relations between the UAE and Russia were strengthened under the leader ship 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,” Al Tayer added.

“Through the UAE Vision 2021, we aim to become one of the best countries in the world by 2021. This in turn, strengthens the UAE’s global competitiveness, especially in renewable energy, and green economy technologies and products. Dubai has a comprehensive vision for a sustainable future which is pivotal to the success of building a green economy. In the past decade, Dubai Government has spearheaded a host of eco-operations, all of which aim to further integrate green economy policies into the Emirate’s development process,” he added.

“In line with the Dubai Plan 2021, and the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, we aim to be a global role model by supporting Dubai’s economic growth having secured energy supply, using energy efficiently and meeting our environmental and sustainability goals, to make Dubai a global centre for clean energy and green economy,” he said.

“Dubai is focused on energy security and sustainability. We also realise the importance of reducing carbon emissions to preserve our planet. The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to provide 7% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources by 2020. This target will increase to 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050,” emphasised Al Tayer.

“This strategy consists of five main pillars that includes: infrastructure, legislation, funding, building capacities and skills, and an environmentally-friendly-energy mix,” he said.

“The first, Infrastructure, includes initiatives such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site project to generate electricity from solar energy in the world, with a planned capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030, and total investment of USD 13.6 billion (AED 50 billion) to save approximately 6.5 million tonnes per annum in emissions,” he added.

“Our strategy involves moving from a carbon-intensive economy to a greener one, through the Dubai Green Fund, which is worth USD 27 billion, encouraging green investments and green growth,” he said.
“DEWA established Etihad ESCO to boost energy performance contracts by providing financial organisations with the opportunity to invest in energy-efficient projects and obtain attractive returns, with the new regulatory framework ensuring that all risks are addressed. Financial institutions can become active partners in the sustainable development vision of Dubai, with plans to retrofit 30,000 buildings to make them energy-efficient in the first phase of this project, along with our Demand Side Management programmes at a cost of AED 30 billion, bringing returns of AED 82 billion, and a net profit of AED 52 billion. We place great importance on environmental issues that contribute to the sustainable development of the UAE,” he said.

“Through the Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, we highlight the benefits of district cooling for both public and private sectors around the world, as there is an urgent need to consolidate efforts to address the challenges facing the energy sector and create new business opportunities in renewable and clean energy sectors,” he pointed out.
“The UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2015, to help millions of underprivileged people, who are in desperate need of drinkable water around the world,” Al Tayer said.

“This initiative also has an annual USD 1 million global award, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, to find sustainable solutions for water scarcity, by using solar energy to purify and desalinate water,” he said.

“In Dubai we work relentlessly to achieve the Smart Dubai initiative, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to make Dubai the smartest and the happiest city in the world. DEWA is doing this with three smart initiatives,” he said.

“The first, called Shams Dubai, installs solar panels in buildings and connects them to DEWA’s grid. Through this initiative, we have launched many solar rooftop projects, among them is the recently-launched photovoltaic project which is one of the largest such projects on a single roof top in our M-station, with a total capacity of 1.5 MW. The second is Smart applications through smart grids and meters, and the third is the Green Charger initiative, where we have already installed 100 electric vehicle charging stations across the Emirate to support the use of electric vehicles in Dubai,” he added.
“The smart grid is a key element in DEWA’s strategy to develop an advanced infrastructure to support Dubai becoming a smart city. Smart Grid also supports our target is to reduce energy consumption by 30% by 2030. The smart grid strategy contains 11 programmes with a total investment of USD 2 billion up to 2020. To contribute to organising the best World Expo in 2020 in Dubai, DEWA has allocated over AED 2.6 billion dirhams (AED 708 million) to support electricity, water, and renewable energy infrastructure projects, according to the highest international standards,” he added.

“We rely on Public Private Partnerships based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model to drive economic prosperity and increase investments in the energy sector, in line with Dubai Government’s strategy to enhance sustainable economic development in the Emirate and build and establish strong partnerships with the private sector. We implemented this successful model in the 200MW second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.”

“Through this model, Dubai has set a world record by obtaining the lowest price globally, at USD 5.6 cents per kilowatt (kW) for Shuaa Energy 1, the company established by DEWA to complete the project according to UAE legislation,” he added.

“Based on this model, we also received the lowest bid at 4.5 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the first and second phases of the 2,400MW Hassyan clean coal power plant.  The plant will be the first-of-its-kind in the region and is fully-compliant with set international standards, adopting the use of ultra-supercritical technology,” he added.

“DEWA has also awarded a contract for the turnkey construction of the Jebel Ali M-Station expansion. The project is worth AED 1.47 billion (USD 400 million US dollars) and will be completed in April 2018. M-Station is the newest and largest power and desalination plant in the UAE, with a current total capacity of 2,060MW of electricity and 140 million imperial gallons of water per day. The expansion project includes new power generation units with a capacity of 700MW to be added to the current capacity of the station to eventually produce 2,760MW by 2018,” he said.

“We in Dubai are always interested in discovering 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 sure there is much that Russian companies can offer to the UAE in general and Dubai in particular for energy, electricity, water and green buildings,” concluded Al Tayer.

Russian companies were invited at the seminar to participate at WETEX 2016 and inaugural edition of Dubai Solar Show which will be organised by DEWA as part of the third Green Week under the under the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Finance Minister of the UAE and President of DEWA.

Al Tayer conducted a series of meetings with a group of officials alongside the event including  Vladimir Limin, CEO of the Russian Green Building Council,Magamed-Salam Umakhanov, Head of the Department of Renewable Energy Sources Development at the Russian Ministry of Energy, Alekxey Konev, Director of Innovation and Management Systems at the Russian Ministry of Energy, Tatiana M Portnova, Head of Service of the Chief Technologist Technical Administration, at the St Petersburg Water Authority, Elena J. Bezrukova, Deputy Director of the Department of Energy and Mechanics SUE at the St Petersburg Water Authority, and Kuzma D Zaitsev, Head of the Structuring and Investment Projects Support department at the St Petersburg budgetary enterprise centre for energy savings.