Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is implementing its updated Smart Grid Strategy 2021-2035, which features a high standard of resilience and agility that keeps pace with development and rapid changes to ensure the continuity of the organisation’s excellence and global leadership.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, praised the team’s efforts, which resulted in delivering the short-term goals of DEWA’s Smart Grid Strategy and updating it to move forward with the medium and long-term objectives until 2035.
“DEWA’s Smart Grid programme with investments upwards of AED7 billion aligns with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world. It also supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100 percent of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050,” he added.
A Smart Grid provides advanced features that include interoperability across the entire electricity and water network. It is an integral part of DEWA’s strategy to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure for managing facilities and services according to smart and integrated systems using disruptive technologies and Fourth Industrial Revolution applications.
Waleed bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA, said that the Smart Grid Strategy includes six main themes: Foundational Capabilities; Grid Automation; Smart Energy Solutions and Green Mobility; Smart Water; Smart Grid Artificial Intelligence; and Innovative Value-Added Services.
The Smart Grid Strategy themes comprise 19 smart grid capabilities. These capabilities are aligned with DEWA’s strategic objectives. These global pioneering capabilities have enabled the updated DEWA Smart Grid Strategy until 2035.
To achieve the short-term goals of its Smart Grid Strategy 2014-2035, DEWA replaced electricity and water metres with smart metres between 2015 and 2020. More than two million metres are automatically read, with consumption patterns provided to customers to help them effectively manage their electricity and water usage.
Between 2015 and 2017, DEWA fully automated its transmission network connected to the 400kV and 132 kV substations. In 2017, DEWA deployed its multi-application RF Mesh network across Dubai. Since then, it has expanded to provide communication to over 4,200 distribution substations.
