Dewa's desalination water plant to be operational by May-end

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has visited the water desalination unit at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to check its progress.

The desalination plant is powered by a photovoltaic array and uses reverse osmosis technology to produce 50 cubic metres of drinking water a day. The project supports Dewa’s Research & Development efforts (R&D) to provide high-quality drinking water for the solar park. Dewa cooperates with other international organisations to conduct research on water desalination using solar energy.

Al Tayer said, "The project also supports Dewa and the UAE Water Foundation’s (Suqia)’s efforts to supply people in poor countries with clean drinking water, by conducting specialised research regarding the production of desalinated water via the use of solar energy, storing it, and supporting water technology related projects to defeat drought."

He noted that the project adheres to the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to provide 7% of Dubai’s energy from clean energy sources by 2020.This target will increase to 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. Dewa gives priority to the environment in all its projects and operations.

"This supports the Green Economy for Sustainable Development initiative and the Dubai Plan 2021 for Dubai to be sustainable with its resources, whose environmental elements are clean, healthy, and sustainable, in a safe and resilient environment. This supports Dewa’s vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility," said Al Tayer.

The project aims to extract saltwater and desalinate it to produce water that is as good as bottled water, by using innovative technology.

All electricity used to pump and desalinate water at the station will be produced via a hybrid electricity source that combines photovoltaic cells at 100 kilowatts KW, and batteries with a capacity of 520kW/h per day. 35% of construction on the project is complete, the project is expecting to see completion by the end of May 2016.

The project will produce desalinated water by using solar energy and an integrated energy storage system, this allows the station to operate for 24 hours a day. In the future, this model will be applied on a larger scale to form more developed technology to produce water. Dewa has become a pioneer for implementing this highly-efficient, and flexible model, working towards a zero-dependence rate on traditional energy sources.

Al Tayer was accompanied by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at Dewa, Hussain Lootah, Executive Vice President of Transmission Power at Dewa, Khawla Al Mehairi, Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications at Dewa, Moza Al Akraf, CIO of Dewa, Saeed Al Jallaf, Vice President of Transmission Projects and Permits, Jamal Shaheen Al Hammadi, Vice President of special projects at Dewa, and Khalifa Al Mehairi, Vice President of Distribution Maintenance at Dewa.

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