New deal takes Dewa's installed capacity above 10,000MW

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and Siemens have signed a Dh1.47 billion contract for the turnkey construction of the Jebel Ali M-Station expansion which will expand its capacity by 700 megawatts.

The contract was signed by Dewa Managing Director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer and Dietmar Siersdorfer, CEO of Siemens in the Middle East and UAE, at the Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (Wetex 2015) in Dubai.

The project will be completed by end of April 2018. Dewa previously appointed Mott McDonald as the project consultant.

The new combined-cycle power plant will add a further 700 megawatts (MW) to the installed generating capacity of M-Station at Jebel Ali, boosting its capacity to 2,760MW when the project is completed in 2018.

Dewa'0s current installed capacity is 9,656MW of electricity and 470 million imperial gallons of desalinated water per day. After completing this station, Dewa’s installed capacity will reach 10,356MW of electricity.

The expansion project includes adding two gas turbine generators, two heat recovery steam turbine generators, and one back pressure steam turbine. This will increase the plant’s thermal efficiency from 82.4 per cent to 85.8 per cent, which is considered to be one of the highest thermal-efficiency rates in the world,” said Al Tayer.

M-Station, built at a cost of Dh10 billion, is the newest and largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE, with a total capacity of 2,060MW of electricity and 140 million imperial gallons of water per day.

Dewa to utilise GPON fiber service on substations

In another development, Dewa has tied up with Etisalat to utilise Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON) on the Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) backbone fiber network on all its 29,000 substations, said a press statement.

The first phase will cover 3,200 substations in 4 zones across Dubai. This supports the Dubai Smart City initiative which aims to make Dubai the smartest city in the world in 3 years.

"Smart grids are a main component of smart cities, and we are building the world's first network that covers everything all the way to the customer, from generation to transmission to distribution. The smart grid will include demand side management, asset management, automation, transfer stations, automation of distribution networks, and the integration of systems and smart meters that will enhance living standards and happiness in Dubai. We will also involve all stakeholders as our partners in dealing with the smart grid and provide services that save time, effort and resources," said Al Tayer.

"Dewa is investing Dh7 billion in the smart grid initiative to support the Smart Dubai initiative, as well as its smart initiatives to produce solar electricity in buildings, connecting them to the grid, and building the infrastructure and charging stations for electric vehicles," he added.

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