HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, inaugurated the World Green Economy Summit (WGES) 2017. WGES is held under the patronage of His Highness and organised by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO) under the umbrella of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy in collaboration with global partners under the theme ‘Driving Innovation, Leading Change’ at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC). After opening WGES, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, accompanied HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai; HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and HH Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; HE Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future; HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment; HE Reem Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and a number of senior government officials, visited the 19th Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX 2017). During the visit, His Highness reviewed the latest technologies, innovations and products in energy, water desalination, green technologies, clean and renewable energy solutions, environmental sustainability, and oil and gas, among others.
During his tour of WETEX, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum started his visit at DEWA’s stand, which featured sustainability and innovation platforms as well as its latest portfolio of smart applications. HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, briefed His Highness about DEWA’s leading initiatives and projects. The sustainability platform shows DEWA’s projects and initiatives to promote environmental, social and economic sustainability, mainly the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model with a total planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030 and a total investment of AED 50 billion. HH announced the awarding of the contract for the fourth phase of the solar park last September, which will cover the construction of a 700MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant. The project will feature the world’s tallest solar tower, which will be 260 metres tall.
HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also viewed a scale model of DEWA’s new building, Al-Shera'a (Arabic for ‘sail’), which will be the tallest, largest, and smartest zero energy government building in the world.
Afterwards, His Highness visited the innovation and smart applications platforms at DEWA’s stand, where the latest world-class innovations and technologies in smart transformation, electronics, smart services, and continuous operational development are on show. At the top of the smart services is Rammas, DEWA’s artificial intelligence chatbot, a virtual employee that is available 24/7 on DEWA’s Facebook page, smart app, and website. Also on display were the DAQRI smart helmet and smart glasses that use virtual reality to help engineers working in power stations, 3D-Printed Lab, Big Data initiative, and the smart monitoring of household energy applications, which allows customers to monitor the consumption rate of electrical appliances in their houses. The stand also showed the Microsoft HoloLens end-to-end solution for DEWA power plants with 3D representation of real data.
The stand also has a model of the hydroelectric power station at Hatta, a project that will generate electricity by making use of the water in the Hatta Dam, which is the first of its kind in the GCC, with a total capacity of 250MW. As part of DEWA’s support for the Comprehensive Development Plan for Hatta, which was launched by His Highness, DEWA has initiated several projects, including the hydroelectric power station, at a cost of AED 1.92 billion.
The sustainability platform at the DEWA pavilion includes the Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME), a distinguished competition that created through an agreement between both Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and DEWA, and the United States Department of Energy. Dubai will host two rounds of this competition, first in 2018 and later in 2020, to coincide with World Expo 2020 in Dubai. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also visited the Innovation Hall, with 14 universities exhibiting there as a centrepiece of the 19th WETEX. The Innovation Hall highlights the role of universities in solving different environmental problems through science and knowledge and shows university research and innovative projects related to the exhibition. The participation of the universities had a profound impact during the previous exhibition, helping enrich the exhibition and promote its position as a global scientific hub that gathers scientists, intellectuals, innovators, scholars, and distinguished students from all around the world.
Alongside WETEX, DEWA is also organising the 2nd Dubai Solar Show, the biggest exhibition dedicated to solar power technologies in the region, organised over an area of 14,000 square metres. The show is the region’s most prestigious platform for solar power products and solutions, generation technologies, and storage. It assembles experts, manufacturers and enthusiasts under one umbrella to discuss solar power solutions and needs and technologies for ensuring the success of solar power projects around the world. The 2nd Dubai Solar Show provides a crucial platform for the public and private sectors to strike unprecedented business deals, establish strategic partnerships, review the latest technologies in solar power, identify market needs and the best ways to meet them, and show the latest technologies and current and future projects in the region. Most importantly, it also presents potential partnership opportunities in the most promising solar power projects and programmes.
The Dubai Solar Show is an ideal venue for all service and municipal organisations, universities and educational institutions, manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and specialists in solar system installations and storage, amd developers of solar power stations based on the IPP procurement model. Other exhibitors include research and development organisations, and engineering and consulting companies, as well as visitors coming to see the latest innovative technologies and modern trends in this promising industry. In keeping with Dubai’s major achievements during its journey to claim its position at the forefront of the smartest and most sustainable cities in the world, DEWA made sure that the 2nd Dubai Solar Show is more exclusive and unique by providing thematic platforms. These include renewable and climate change, innovation, education, and smart technology, smart communities and lifestyles, national pavilions, green suppliers, and happiness. The event’s agenda features high-profile discussions. These included major topics such as regulatory frameworks and policies necessary for driving projects related to renewable energy and climate change around the world, the required transformation in energy, energy demand management strategies, best global practices in energy efficiency, perspectives in the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.