DUBAI 7 October 2017: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) launched a new project, as part of the Shams Dubai initiative, to install solar carports, at Dewa headquarters, and at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment building.
This is part of Dewa efforts to increase reliance on clean energy, and support Dubai’s smart transformation, in line with its vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility.
Dewa is currently working on this project, which aims to generate electricity, using photovoltaic (PV) panels, connected to the network, in the parking lots at the two sites, with a total of 902 parking spaces. The parking lot will have a capacity of 1,780 kilowatts (KW), and 220KW in the Ministry building, with a total of approximately 2,000KW in both locations, generating a total of 2,750 MWp, equivalent to reducing about 1,500 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
“The Solar Carports project, in Dewa headquarters and at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, is part of our efforts to encourage the public to benefit from Shams Dubai. This supports the Smart Dubai initiative and achieve the objectives of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to make Dubai a global hub for clean energy and green economy by providing 7% of its total energy from clean energy sources by 2020, 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050.
“Through the project, we intend to help Dubai’s government organisations achieve the goal set by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) to reduce 20% of the energy consumption in all government buildings, by 2020,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dewa.
Al Tayer stressed that Dewa has completed linking its network with 450 residential and commercial buildings, with a total capacity of about 17.7MW, through Shams Dubai. DEWA is also working to increase this number to reach all buildings, in the Emirate, by 2030.
“The Solar Carports and other such projects under Shams Dubai, highlight Dewa’s commitment to provide ease for all stakeholders, and encourage government buildings to use clean energy and transform into sustainable buildings. We aim to spread the experience to a large number of public and private buildings in Dubai, supporting national efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase the proportion of solar energy in the environment-friendly energy mix in Dubai,” said Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development & Excellence at Dewa.