Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) strengthened its global leadership and excellence by winning two awards at the 14th Asian Power Awards 2018 in the ‘Transmission & Distribution Project of the Year’ and ‘Smart Grid Project of the Year’ categories. The awards ceremony was recently held at the Ritz-Carlton, Jakarta, Indonesia.
DEWA won the Transmission & Distribution Project of the Year award for its 132/11 kilovolt (kV) substation project launched for Expo 2020 Dubai, which will provide the energy needed for this mega global event. DEWA also won the Smart Grid Project of the Year award for its smart electricity and water network control systems which aim to increase the efficiency of electricity and water networks in Dubai, in accordance with the highest standards of availability, efficiency, and reliability.
“These awards reflect the international recognition of DEWA’s efforts and projects and its leading position among service utilities in Asia and the world. Our path is focused on maintaining the highest level of operational excellence and economic operation to achieve the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to be the world’s number one in all fields, and make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world. At DEWA, we are committed to enhancing our contribution to the achievement of our national vision and strategies, including the UAE Centennial 2071 which shapes the future of the UAE for the next generations, and the UAE Vision 2021 to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, while congratulating the DEWA teams for their awards, which are added to DEWA’s success and excellence.
“As the first official sustainable energy partner of Expo 2020, we were keen to speed up the completion of our projects in support of the sustainable energy provision for the event’s facilities, in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to host the best Expo in Dubai, thus enhancing the leading global position of Dubai and the UAE. DEWA commissioned three 132/11kV substations, namely: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability, (named after Expo 2020’s three subthemes) with 45 kilometres of high-voltage 132kV cables. DEWA has allocated AED 4.26 billion for investments in electricity and water infrastructure projects to support the Expo 2020. DEWA intends to supply the exhibition with clean energy, while the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will supply 400 MW of energy.
With the ‘Smart Applications through Smart Meters and Grids’ initiative, we aim to support and increase the capacity and efficiency of power transmission networks by providing smart and innovative energy infrastructure and service facilities for sustainable development in Dubai. This is achieved by providing electricity and water services in accordance with the highest standards of availability, reliability, and efficiency. DEWA is currently replacing the old mechanical and electro-mechanical meters with smart new meters, and has already implemented a number of smart technology procedures in power grids, and the latest SCADA, smart monitoring, and control automation systems. In total, there will be more than 1.2 million smart meters in Dubai by 2020,” Al Tayer said.
“The Smart Grid is a key component of DEWA’s strategy to develop an advanced infrastructure to support Dubai’s efforts in becoming a smart and happy city. We are strengthening the electricity and water infrastructure by relying on smart, modern network technologies and providing advanced features that include automatic decision-making and inter-operability across the entire electricity and water network. The Smart Grid supports efficiency for consumers to optimise their utility consumption. In turn, it supports the Dubai Plan 2021 and the Demand Side Management Strategy to decrease energy and water consumption to 30% by 2030. The Smart Grid project includes 11 programmes with investments totalling AED 7 billion to be completed in short, medium, and long-term phases between 2014 and 2035,” concluded Al Tayer.
Today, DEWA has a world-class infrastructure, with a capacity of 10,400 MW of electricity and 470 million gallons of desalinated water per day, to meet the ever-increasing demand in Dubai. At the same time, DEWA’s assets have grown to exceed AED 144 billion with an additional AED 81 billion to be invested over the next five years for capacity building in electricity and water for Dubai.
The Asian Power Awards are considered one of the most prestigious awards in the field of electricity in Asia and the 14th edition witnessed immense competition between many organisations, under the supervision of a jury of international energy experts.