Dubai, UAE, 26 August 2015

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) will participate in the Global Solar Leaders Summit 2015, which will be held under the patronage of the UAE Minster of Energy, HE Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei. HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, will deliver a keynote speech about delivering utility-scale solar power in the UAE.

The Summit, on 14 September 2015 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, will discuss opportunities and challenges for regional governments in achieving diversified and green economies, and establishing national sustainable energy sectors. Around 27 international experts will speak on renewable energy at the summit.

The summit will feature a panel discussion to discuss Shams Dubai, DEWA's initiative to encourage households and building owners and tenants to produce their energy needs using photovoltaic (PV) panels on rooftops, and connecting them to DEWA's grid. The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to DEWA's network. An offset between exported and imported electricity units is conducted and the customer account is settled based on this offset. This session will outline the impact of Shams Dubai in terms of activity and transactions in the local solar market and what it might mean for other governments looking to introduce rooftop guidance.

About 200 academics, specialists, and experts form the public and private sectors from all over the world, representatives of regional governments, and CEOs of international power and renewable energy companies will also attend the event. Bertrand Piccard, Pilot of Solar Impulse 2, the technological and research project supported by Masdar, will take part in the summit. He will talk about the unique experience of Solar Impulse, which made a historic achievement last month by crossing the Pacific Ocean flying non-stop for 5 days from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii.

At the Summit, DEWA will highlight its latest developments in its renewable-energy projects, initiatives, and programmes, including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park project, which is one of the largest strategic Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects worldwide in renewable energy with a planned 1,000MW production capacity by 2020 and 3,000MW by 2030. The project supports the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 developed by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy to diversify the energy mix in the Emirate. Solar energy will account for 7% of the total energy production by 2020 and 15% by 2030. The project, which occupies 4.5 square kilometres, will help achieve a reduction of approximately 400,000 tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020, and support the green initiatives and programmes implemented by the Government of Dubai to reduce carbon emissions.

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For more information, please contact:
Ribal Dayekh or Noora Khoory                
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority        
+9714 307 2006 or 515 1784                  
ribal.dayekh@dewa.gov.ae                     
noora.khoory@dewa.gov.ae

© Press Release 2015