UAE: His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), welcomed Her Excellency Marie-May Jeremie, Minister of Environment, Climate, Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Seychelles, during the World Governments Summit 202, which runs until 5 February.

The meeting was attended by Waleed bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence; Dr Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources; Marwan bin Haidar, Executive Vice President of Innovation and the Future; and Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Government Communications at DEWA.

H.E. Al Tayer presented DEWA’s major initiatives and pioneering projects that support the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

These include the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which has a current capacity of 3,860 megawatts (MW) and accounts for 21.5% of Dubai’s total energy mix.

By 2030, the solar park’s capacity is set to surpass 8,000MW (up from the originally planned 5,000MW), raising clean energy’s share to 36.1% (from the original target of 25%) and reducing annual emissions by over 8.5 million tonnes (compared to the initial estimate of 6.5 million tonnes).

H.E. Al Tayer talked about the solar park’s various phases, including the pioneering use of concentrated solar power, energy storage and photovoltaic technologies, and its role in significantly reducing carbon emissions.

These efforts align with the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, which aim to provide 100% of the emirate’s energy production capacity from clean sources by 2050.

The fourth phase of the solar park set four Guinness World Records for the highest capacity single-operator CSP plant at 700MW; the tallest CSP tower at 263.126 metres; the largest thermal energy storage facility, with a capacity of 5,907 megawatt-hours; and the longest continuous CSP plant operation.

H.E. Al Tayer noted that DEWA is implementing the solar park’s projects in partnership with the private sector using the independent power producer model. Dubai's legislative environment encourages the private sector to invest in clean and renewable energy projects.

Five phases have been completed to date while work continues on the remaining projects of the sixth phase. DEWA has also launched a global tender for the seventh phase, which will add 2,000MW of capacity from photovoltaic solar panels and include a 1,400MW battery energy storage system with a six-hour storage duration.

H.E. Al Tayer explained that modern technologies have contributed to increasing the efficiency of electricity generation using photovoltaic solar panels from 11% a decade ago to more than 24% today.

H.E. Jeremi praised DEWA’s expertise in the clean and renewable energy sector and expressed her interest in visiting the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, as well as the Research and Development Centre and the Sustainability and Innovation Centre at the solar park.