The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), the official sustainable energy partner of Expo 2020 has assigned $1.15 billion to supply electricity and water to the world-class event as well as for supporting its infrastructure projects using the latest smart systems.
DEWA will be supplying clean energy for the Expo 2020 from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world using the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. The authority is also building a smart grid to become the first network in the world to offer the entire value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution systems to the Expo.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and the CEO of DEWA explained the authority’s commitment towards the Expo 2020 themes, which include promoting sustainability and innovation. By now DEWA has completed several mega projects as part of hosting the event and it includes constructing three 132/11 kilovolt (kV) substations named Sustainability, Mobility and Opportunity after the sub-themes of Expo 2020 Dubai.
The authority is also working on the construction of water-transmission networks with a proposed budget of $140 million and these projects are expected to increase water-flow rates and ensure an adequate water supply to meet the increasing demands.
Three substations
DEWA commenced the construction of Mobility, the first 132/11 kV main substation, at Expo 2020 Dubai, with a conversion capacity of 150 MVA, in July 2015 which cost around $47.1 million.
In September 2015, the second 132/11 kV main substation, Sustainability’s construction was started at the Expo 2020 site. It has a conversion capacity of 150 MVA and its cost was $28 million.
The third substation’s construction was also started in September 2015. The 132/11 kV main substation, Opportunity cost up to $38.6 million.
Green hydrogen project
DEWA is working on the Green Hydrogen project in collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai and German multinational company Siemens. The first of its kind project in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will be built at Dewa’s outdoor testing facilities in the Research and Development (R&D) Centre at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to produce hydrogen from clean energy. The project will support the green economy in the UAE and DEWA’s efforts to host the most sustainable World Expo.
Green charger stations
In line with its vision to make Expo 2020 Dubai sustainable, DEWA is currently working on installing 17 Green Charger stations for electric vehicles at the offices of Expo Dubai, the Opportunity, Sustainability and Mobility pavilions for charging electric vehicles of the Expo visitors.
Shams Dubai
DEWA is also supporting Expo 2020 through the Smart Dubai initiative, with Shams Dubai supplying power from solar arrays installed at Expo 2020. The authority has already received over 25 installation requests so far.
Smart control and distribution substation automation project
The project targets offering the most modern infrastructure for electricity distribution networks at Expo 2020 Dubai, under the umbrella of the Smart Grids, which is through the automation and smart control of electricity distribution networks, instantly and accurately. The project is part of 250 substations connected to the distribution control center that ensures speedy response to reconnect the service, improve operations, and enhance the efficiency and reliability of electricity distribution networks at Expo.
