HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), received a high-profile delegation from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) at its head office. The delegation included Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the HKTDC; Andrew Weir, Council Member; and a number of senior officials.
The meeting was attended by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA, and Dr Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA.
The meeting reinforced cooperation between the two parties, with discussions on the latest infrastructure projects and investment opportunities. The meeting also explored opportunities for partnership, and shared DEWA’s best experiences, expertise, and global practices to provide electricity and water services according to the highest standards of availability, reliability, and efficiency, ensuring customer and stakeholder happiness.
Al Tayer welcomed the visiting delegation, explaining the importance of continued cooperation between the two organisations in electricity and water.
Al Tayer reviewed DEWA’s programmes, plans, and projects to achieve the vision of the wise leadership, to strengthen the UAE’s global ranking. He explained that DEWA has a holistic view of the energy sector and is managing energy security, sustainability, efficiency, and the conservation of energy resources. DEWA also has a clear vision, represented by the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to secure its energy supply by diversifying the energy mix to provide 75% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2050. DEWA launched several projects and initiatives to achieve this objective, such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world with a production capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030 with investments totalling AED 50 billion. Upon completion, the solar park will reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually and provide thousands of jobs in clean energy and green economy.
Al Tayer said that through Digital DEWA, the digital arm of DEWA, DEWA is implementing a pioneering model for utilities based on innovation in renewable energy, energy storage, artificial intelligence, and digital services. DEWA will disrupt the entire business of public utilities by becoming the world’s first digital utility to use autonomous systems for renewable energy and storage as well as expanding the use of artificial intelligence and digital services.
Al Tayer also reviewed DEWA’s latest achievements where the UAE, represented by DEWA, maintained its first place globally for the second consecutive year, with scores of 100% in all Getting Electricity indicators in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 report.
Al Tayer explained that DEWA achieved competitive results in global benchmarking, surpassing the private sector and major European and American utilities in efficiency and reliability. DEWA raised the efficiency of its energy production by using the latest technologies and adopting technological innovations, surpassing European and American utilities by reducing losses from electricity transmission and distribution networks to 3.3% compared to 6–7% in the US and Europe, while water network losses were reduced to 6.5% in 2018 compared to 15% in North America, which is one of the best results in the world. DEWA also achieved the lowest customer minutes lost per year (CML) in the world of 2.39 CML compared to 15 minutes in Europe.
The visiting delegation commended DEWA’s efforts and its distinguished role and thanked Al Tayer for providing both sides with the opportunity to discuss joint cooperation.