Dubai: Dewa’s Dh1.4-billion hydroelectric power plant in Hatta is 58.48% complete

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) on Monday said around 58.48 per cent of work on its Dh1.42 billion pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant being built in Hatta has been completed.

The power plant will have a production capacity of 250 megawatts (MW), a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt-hours and a life span of up to 80 years. This is the first station of its kind in the GCC and is planned for completion in Q4 of 2024.

The plant supports the comprehensive development plan for Hatta to meet the social, developmental, economic, and environmental needs as well as provide innovative job opportunities for Emiratis in Hatta.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa, visited the plant to check the work progress.

Al Tayer inspected the construction site at the hydroelectric power plant, where he was briefed about the work progress. The visit also included the inspection of the power generators site and the upper dam, where the water intake in the Hatta Dam connected to the power generators has been completed. Construction of the 72-metre main Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) wall of the upper dam has been completed. Al Tayer also inspected the work progress of the water tunnel, which is 1.2 kilometres long and connects the two dams. The concrete lining of the water tunnel is complete.

Al Tayer said that the pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in Hatta is part of Dewa’s efforts to achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100 per cent of Dubai’s total power production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050. The project supports the comprehensive plan to develop Hatta and meet its social, economic, developmental and environmental needs, in addition to providing innovative job opportunities for citizens in Hatta.

Al Tayer noted that the hydroelectric power plant in Hatta is part of the projects and initiatives launched by Dewa to diversify energy production from renewable and clean sources in Dubai. These include different available technologies such as solar photovoltaic panels, concentrated solar power, and green hydrogen production using renewable energy.

The hydroelectric power plant will be an energy storage facility with a turnaround efficiency of 78.9 per cent that utilises the water stored in the upper dam, which is converted to kinetic energy during the flow of water through the 1.2-kilometre subterranean tunnel. This kinetic energy rotates the turbines and converts mechanical energy to electrical energy which is sent to Dewa’s grid within 90 seconds in response to demand. To store energy, clean energy generated at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will be used to pump the water through this tunnel back to the upper dam by converting the electrical power to kinetic energy making the whole project 100 per cent renewable.

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