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Dewa attracts $11.9bn investments over 10 years

8 July 2024

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State utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority's (Dewa) independent producer model has attracted investments worth AED43.6bn ($11.9bn) over 10 years, according to its managing director and chief executive Saeed Mohammed Al-Tayer.

These investments cover renewable and conventional power plants and seawater reverse osmosis projects.

Through the independent procurement model, Dewa has achieved the lowest levelised cost of energy in the world for solar energy projects, making Dubai a global benchmark for solar energy prices, the utility said.

In addition to its current role as a utility services provider, Dewa is mulling plans and has sought advisers to become a developer of utility assets, as MEED has reported.

Pioneering energy and water projects

Dewa adopted the independent power producer (IPP) model in 2014, replacing the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model.

The first five phases of Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, have been completed. According to data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the EPC components of these projects required an investment of at least AED21bn ($5.5bn).

The project's overall plan entails a planned production capacity of over 5,000MW by 2030 and a total investment of AED50bn.

Completed capacity at the solar park to date is estimated at 2,863MW. The phases and their capacities are:

  • 13MW solar photovoltaic (PV) phase one: completed in 2013
  • 200MW solar PV phase two: commissioned in 2017
  • 800MW solar PV phase three: commissioned in 2020
  • 950MW hybrid concentrated solar power/solar PV phase four: inaugurated in 2023
  • 900MW solar PV phase five: commissioned in 2023

In 2023, Dewa awarded the UAE-based Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) the contract to develop the solar park's sixth phase, which has a capacity of 1,800MW and will require an investment of AED5.5bn.

Dewa’s other energy projects based on the IPP model include the 2,400MW Hassyan plant, which runs on natural gas. 

Dewa is also implementing a seawater reverse osmosis desalination project in Hassyan using the independent water producer model. It will have a capacity of 180 million imperial gallons a day and will require an investment of AED3.4bn.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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