Dubai Electricity & Water Authority highlights the city's sustainability plans in an interview with World Finance

News provided by World News Media

LONDON, March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --  Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) PJSC – the exclusive electricity and water utility provider for the Emirate of Dubai, the UAE which is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) – has outlined a series of initiatives to help Dubai achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, including the largest solar park in the world.

Speaking in a video interview with World Finance, H.E Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, said the government-run organisation had "a clear target for the energy sector to provide 100 percent of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050, based on the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emission Strategy 2050."

He said that DEWA had stopped launching projects that rely on fossil fuels, with the intention for all desalination capacity in the future to be based on renewable energy.

"One of our biggest projects to help us achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2050 is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park," he said. "This is the largest single site solar park in the world. Its current production power is 2,027 megawatts, about 14 percent of DEWA's total power production capacity. By 2030 it will have a production capacity of 5,000 megawatts, using photovoltaic solar panels and concentrated solar power technologies."

He said DEWA was also working on a 250 megawatt pump storage hydro-electric power plant that would be the first of its kind in the GCC region, using water stored in the Hatta dam.

Other initiatives include retrofitting buildings across the city to make them more energy efficient – more than 7,000 have already been retrofitted – and installing electric vehicle charging stations across Dubai. Over 350 EV stations have been installed to date, with plans to reach 1,000 by 2025.

Al Tayer said the efforts were paying off. Dubai saw a 21 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by the end of 2021, exceeding a target of 16 percent. The government has set a new target for 2030, aiming to cut emissions by 30 percent.

"Sustainability is an essential part of our vision and strategy," he said. "DEWA is the first government organisation to adopt the 17 UN sustainable development goals and its strategic plan to achieve long term sustainable growth through economic, social and environmental aspects."

DEWA's efforts saw the company receive the World Finance award for Best ESG Strategy in the UAE for 2022.

Find out more about Dubai's sustainability plans in the video interview: www.worldfinance.com/markets/energy/powering-an-emirate-of-the-future-dewas-360-sustainability-strategy

Find out more about DEWA: www.dewa.gov.ae/en

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