HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), welcomed Irene Cañas, Vice Minister of Energy of Costa Rica, HE William Reuben Soto, Minister Counsellor and Consul General of the Embassy of Costa Rica in the UAE, Luis Pacheco, Manager of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, and Ana Iris Sánchez Rodríguez, First Secretary for consular functions for Economic and Public Diplomacy Affairs at the Embassy of Costa Rica in the UAE. The two sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation and explore new horizons for sharing experiences and investment opportunities in the UAE and Dubai, in clean and renewable energy. This supports DEWA’s commitment to strengthen international cooperation in exploring the future of energy, especially clean renewable energy.
The meeting was attended by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development & Excellence, Dr Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources, Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Government Communications.
Al Tayer stressed DEWA’s commitment to cooperating with Costa Rican organisations in renewable and clean energy, environmental sustainability, and innovation. He presented the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and its ambitious objective to provide 75% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2050, and the Demand Side Management Strategy to reduce energy and water demand by 30% by 2030. He highlighted key investment opportunities, and development projects and initiatives implemented by DEWA, which support the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Al Tayer explained that Dubai’s strategy includes reducing its use of natural gas from 100% to 61% by 2030, by diversifying the sources of electricity generation.
Al Tayer highlighted 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 planned capacity of 5,000MW by 2030, at a total investment of AED 50 billion. He also discussed the 250MW Hatta hydroelectric power station. The pumped-storage hydroelectric power station will make use of the existing water stored in the Hatta Dam. The planned efficiency of power production is 90%, with a 90-second response time to any demand for power.
Al Tayer noted that DEWA works tirelessly to enhance its total production capacity, which is currently 10,200MW of electricity and 470 million imperial gallons (MIGD) of desalinated water per day. He highlighted that DEWA has achieved competitive results, surpassing leading European and American companies by reducing losses in power transmission and distribution networks to 3.3%, compared to 6-7% in Europe and the USA. Water network losses decreased to 8%, compared to 15% in North America, achieving global results in reducing water losses. DEWA’s results are among the best internationally for customer minutes lost per year. DEWA recorded 2.68 minutes, compared to 15 minutes by leading utilities in the European Union.
Cañas expressed interest in exploring ways to enhance cooperation between the UAE and Costa Rica, in power. She commended DEWA’s pivotal role in launching ambitious clean and renewable energy projects. Cañas noted that Costa Rica is currently producing most of its power based on renewable energy, notably hydropower and geothermal power.