HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), is heading a high-level delegation on a visit to Shanghai, China, to raise the level of contribution by Chinese companies to energy projects in Dubai and the UAE. The delegation includes Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Development and DEWA, Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA, Mohammed Abdul Kareem Al Shamsi, Acting Executive Director of the UAE Water Aid Foundation and Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communications at DEWA.
During the delegation’s visit to Shanghai, Al Tayer made a speech as part of a meeting that witnessed the attendance of HE Ahmad Al Saadi UAE Consul in Shanghai, in addition to a large number of leading Chinese companies. The speech highlighted DEWA’s ongoing projects and initiatives on clean and renewable energy. Al Tayer also highlighted the development of trade relations between the UAE and China.
“The UAE and China have formed strong ties together as a result of our shared values and our trading and economic interests. We are always interested in building new opportunities and exploring new advances in infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and finance. The foundations of our close ties have grown stronger under the leadership of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai,” said Al Tayer.
“Bilateral trade between the UAE and China is set to exceed USD60 billion by 2016. The annual trade between the two countries has been growing at about 16% during the past six years and is set to increase in the next few years. With 4,200 Chinese companies registered in the UAE, our country is the largest Middle East market for Chinese products,” added Al Tayer.
Al Tayer noted that China is one of the world’s largest energy consumers, according to a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Investments in renewable energy could surpass USD145 billion annually by 2030, totalling USD2.2 trillion.
“Through the UAE Vision 2021, we aim to become one of the best countries in the world by 2021. This in turn, strengthens the UAE’s global competitiveness, especially in renewable energy, and green economy technologies and products. Dubai has a comprehensive vision for a sustainable future which is pivotal to the success of building a green economy.”
“In line with the Dubai Plan 2021, and the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, we aim to be a global role model by supporting Dubai’s economic growth having secured energy supply, using energy efficiently and meeting our environmental and sustainability goals, to make Dubai a global centre for clean energy and green economy. The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to provide 7% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources by 2020. This target will increase to 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. This strategy consists of five main pillars that include infrastructure, legislation, funding, building capacities and skills, and an environmentally-friendly energy mix. The first, Infrastructure, includes initiatives such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site project to generate electricity from solar energy in the world, with a planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030, and total investment of USD13.6 billion (AED 50 billion) to save approximately 6.5 million tonnes per annum in emissions,” continued Al Tayer.
“Our strategy involves moving from a carbon-intensive economy to a greener one, through the Dubai Green Fund, which is worth USD27 billion, encouraging green investments and green growth. DEWA established Etihad ESCO to boost energy performance contracts by providing financial organisations the opportunity to invest in energy-efficient projects and obtain attractive returns, with the new regulatory framework ensuring that all risks are addressed. Financial institutions can become active partners in the sustainable development vision of Dubai, with plans to retrofit 30,000 buildings to make them energy-efficient in the first phase of this project along with our Demand Side Management programme at a cost of AED30 billion, bringing returns of AED82 billion, and a net profit of AED52 billion, as we place great importance on environmental issues that contribute to the sustainable development of the UAE.”
Through our Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world’s largest district cooling services provider, we highlight the benefits of district cooling for both public and private sectors around the world as there is an urgent need to consolidate efforts to address the challenges facing the energy sector and create new business opportunities in renewable and clean energy. The UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2015, to help millions of underprivileged people, who are in desperate need of drinkable water around the world. This initiative also has an annual USD1 million global award, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, to find sustainable solutions for water scarcity, by using solar energy to purify and desalinate water,” added Al Tayer.
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