HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) inaugurated the workshops that DEWA organised in its Sustainable Building in Al Quoz. The workshops reviewed and exchanged best international practices and discussed enhancing investment opportunities in electricity and water, building retrofits, energy efficiency, and sustainability. The event was attended by HE Esben Lunde Larsen, Minister for Environment & Food in Denmark; HE Merete Juhl, Danish Ambassador to the UAE, HE Morten Siem Lynge, Danish Consul General in Dubai, officials from the Danish Government, and representatives from leading energy and water companies from Denmark.
The workshops were also attended by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence; Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources; Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Government Communications, and other officials from DEWA.
In his keynote speech, Al Tayer emphasised the importance of close cooperation between DEWA and Danish companies in the energy and water sectors. He highlighted DEWA’s programmes, plans, and projects that aim to achieve the vision of the wise leadership, enhance the UAE’s global leadership, and improve performance, productivity, and quality of services. He noted that DEWA’s strategies are aligned with the UAE Centennial 2071, UAE Vision 2021 and the Dubai Plan 2021 to secure a happy and sustainable future and support the UAE in reaching first place in all areas.
“I am pleased to welcome such a distinguished delegation from the Kingdom of Denmark to build closer ties with the UAE. Denmark has established itself as the global leader in wind energy. The UAE, Dubai especially, is forging the same position on clean energy, primarily solar power. Today’s workshop and meeting gives our two great nations the opportunity to exchange innovative ideas and experiences to grow clean energy across the planet. We are guided by the vision and directives 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, who launched the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to generate 75% of the total energy output in Dubai from clean sources by 2050,” said Al Tayer.
“DEWA is on track to achieve these goals through the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which will generate 5,000MW by 2030, from a range of photovoltaic and concentrated solar power technologies. DEWA has achieved very competitive results in its global benchmarking, surpassing the private sector and major European and American utilities in efficiency and reliability. It has been able to raise the efficiency of energy production 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 2.68 CML compared to 15 minutes in Europe. DEWA managed to decrease water network losses to 7.1%, compared to 15% in North America, which is one of the best results in the world,” added Al Tayer.
“DEWA is also pioneering energy efficiency. The Sustainable Building we are in today, is the largest government building in the world with a Platinum rating for green buildings from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the US Green Building Council institute. The building saves 66% of energy consumption and has a solar power plant with a capacity of 660 kilowatts (KW). It also reduces water consumption by 48%. And we will not rest on our laurels, with plans to build the tallest, largest, and smartest Zero Energy Building in the world, which will be DEWA’s new planned headquarters, Al-Shera’a (Arabic for sail). It will have over 2 million square feet, covering over 200,000 square feet of land in the heart of Al Jadaf and will be ready by the end of next year.
“Al-Shera’a will meet the LEED Platinum Certification. It will have 16,500 square metres of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof to produce over 3,500 kilowatts (kW). The building will also include an additional 2,000 square metres of building-integrated photovoltaic panels. The total renewable energy generated from the building will be 5,800 megawatt hours (MWh) per year,” noted Al Tayer.
“Dubai is 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 innovative technology to improve our services. We are positive that Danish companies will play a huge role in the energy, electricity, water, and green building sector in the UAE, and in Dubai in particular. I am sure that these workshops will be very successful and I hope that you have a very enjoyable stay in Dubai,” concluded Al Tayer.
HE Esben Lunde Larsen, Minister for Environment & Food in Denmark, thanked Al Tayer and appreciated the warm welcome the Danish delegation received. He highlighted the strong ties between the Kingdom of Denmark and the UAE and the keenness to enhance cooperation between the two countries, hoping that the meetings and workshops with DEWA will result in launching of joint projects and initiatives for the mutual benefit of both sides. Finn Mortensen, Executive Director of Denmark’s State of Green, reviewed Denmark’s achievements in sustainability.
DEWA’s officials then gave presentations that focused on its projects, initiatives and achievements in sustainability, especially in electricity, water, building retrofits, and energy efficiency. DEWA’s new head office, named Al-Shera’a, was presented as a model for zero-energy buildings using solar power.
DEWA’s officials who spoke at the event included Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence; Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Business Support; Mohammed Al Shamsi, Vice President of Civil Projects Engineering & Water Maintenance Engineering Projects, and Mohammed Abdulkareem Al Shamsi, Senior Manager of Climate Change & Sustainability. Ali Al Jassim, CEO of Etihad Energy Services (Etihad ESCO) also gave a presentation during the event.
The Danish companies held meetings with DEWA project management teams, where they reviewed opportunities for sustainability in the water sector, energy efficiency and building retrofits in Denmark.