Dubai sets new record in saving electricity, water

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) on Saturday said that it had achieved a new world record in saving water and electricity among its consumers.
Dewa recorded 1.86 minutes in electricity customer minutes lost, as compared to around 15 minutes recorded by leading electricity companies in the European Union.
"We continuously work to enhance the capacity and efficiency of transmission and distribution networks to provide electricity and water services according to the highest standards of reliability, availability, efficiency, and sustainability. This is to meet the growing demand for energy and water and keep pace with Dubai's ambitious urban and economic plans," said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa.
Dewa is also building an integrated smart grid, which is a key component of its strategy to develop an advanced infrastructure to support Dubai's efforts to become a smart and happy city. The smart grid strategy contains 10 programmes to be completed over the short, medium and long-term by 2035. These include advanced metering infrastructure for electricity and water, asset management, distribution automation, information technology infrastructure, transmission automation, system integration, telecommunications, big data and analytics, and security.
In 2018, Dewa said losses from electricity transmission and distribution networks were 3.3 per cent compared to 6-7 per cent in Europe and the USA. Water network losses were also reduced to 6.5 per cent compared to around 15 per cent in North America. The UAE, represented by Dewa, ranked first for the third consecutive year in getting electricity, as per the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report.
The report measures the ease of doing business in 190 economies around the world. Dewa achieved 100 per cent in all of the Getting Electricity indicators, including procedures required to obtain an electricity connection; the time needed to complete each procedure; costs associated with each criterion; and reliability and transparency of tariffs.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com