HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), visited the Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME) 2018 site at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park at Seih Al Dahl in Dubai. DEWA has allocated 60,000 square metres for the competition area at the solar park.
15 teams from 28 universities from 11 countries around the world are taking part in the 1st SDME from 14-29 November 2018. The competition is a partnership between the Supreme Council of Energy, DEWA, and the US Department of Energy. Dubai will host the 2nd SDME in 2020 in conjunction with Expo 2020 Dubai. Total prizes for the two rounds of the competition total AED 20 million.
Al Tayer toured the site of the competition, where the teams have started to construct the houses they designed. Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence, and Dr Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA also attended.
Participating teams have to build and operate cost-effective and energy-efficient sustainable solar-powered homes, with a focus on protecting the environment, taking into consideration the regional climate. Teams compete in 10 contests: architecture; engineering and building; energy management; energy efficiency; comfort conditions; house functioning; sustainable transport; sustainability; communications, and innovation.
The teams that have qualified to the final stage of the first SDME are: Team Aqua Green from Ajman University UAE; Team AURAK from the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE; Team BaityKool from the University of Bordeaux, France, the National School of Architecture and Landscaping of Bordeaux (ENSAPBx), France, Arts et Métiers Paris Tech Bordeaux (ENSAM), France, Nobatek/Inef4 France, Amity University in Dubai, UAE, and An-Najah University in Palestine; Team EFdeN from Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, Romania, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania and Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Dubai Campus, UAE; Team Jeel from the American University in Dubai, UAE; Team KNOW HOWse from the University of Sharjah, UAE and Università degli Studi di Ferrara in Italy; Team KSU from King Saud University from Saudi Arabia; Team MizanHome from the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, and the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; Team NYUAD from NYU Abu Dhabi, UAE; Team ORA from Heriot Watt University, Dubai, UAE; Team Sapienza from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; Team TDIS from the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan; Team UOW from the University of Wollongong-Australia, TAFE NSW, Australia, and University of Wollongong-Dubai UAE; Team Virginia Tech, from Virginia Tech, USA; Team VIRTUe from Eindhoven University of Technology, from the Netherlands, and Fontys University of Applied Sciences Eindhoven, from the Netherlands.
SDME Steering Committee includes the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; Ministry of Cabinet Affairs & The Future; Ministry of Energy & Industry; Ministry of Education; Dubai Municipality; Dubai Police; Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA); Expo 2020 Dubai; and Dubai Future Foundation. SDME sponsors include the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar); Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC); General Electric; and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power. General Motors Middle East is providing 17 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles for the teams to use during the competition.