HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), received a high-profile delegation from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) that included Nobumitsu Hayashi, Deputy Governor of JBIC, and Naoki Tamaki, Chief Representative for the Middle East from the Representative Office in Dubai at JBIC. The visit held discussions on cooperation through joint initiatives, programmes, projects, and investment opportunities available to DEWA in energy and water.
The meeting was attended by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development & Excellence at DEWA.
Al Tayer briefed the visiting delegation on DEWA’s major projects, initiatives, and programmes to achieve the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Al Tayer highlighted DEWA’s experience in anticipating and shaping the future of energy by innovating a model for future utilities in the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity and water.
Al Tayer discussed DEWA’s achievements, adding that the utility is making over AED 86 billion of investments in the next five years to meet the growing demand for electricity and water in the Emirate. DEWA’s extensive efforts resulted in the UAE, represented by DEWA, maintaining its global first ranking 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 is building the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. It will have a production capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030, with total investments of AED 50 billion, to achieve the objectives of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to provide 75% of Dubai’s energy from clean energy by 2050 and transform Dubai into a global centre for clean energy and green economy. He stressed that DEWA is a pioneer in managing projects based on the IPP model through which it has achieved world-class results, setting new global records for low power prices per kilowatthour (kWh); leading to long-term stable energy prices for customers in Dubai. DEWA also attracted major inward investments from the private sector and foreign banks, resulting in major cash inflows into the Dubai and UAE economy.
In support of this, DEWA adopted innovation and prioritised it in its strategy by using the disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, energy storage, data protection, blockchain, and big data to achieve this. DEWA also launched Digital DEWA, its digital arm; adopting a pioneering model of service organisations based on innovation in renewable energy, energy storage, AI, and digital services.
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. DEWA also achieved the lowest customer minutes lost per year (CML) in the world of 2.39 CML compared to 15 minutes in Europe and was also able to reduce water network losses to 6.5% in 2018 compared to 15% in North America, which is one of the best results in the world.
The Japanese delegation expressed interest in participating in DEWA’s projects in clean and renewable energy and water.