HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer highlights the role of innovation and technology in enhancing future-readiness at 1st EFQM Middle East Summit

  • By : Wael Elhosany

     

     

    HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), emphasised that DEWA supports the UAE’s strategic growth ambitions by providing millions of residents and visitors, with world-class services and innovative energy solutions, that in turn will enrich lives while ensuring the happiness and wellbeing of all stakeholders and shape the future of utilities. Al Tayer made these remarks during his speech at the 1st edition of the EFQM Middle East Summit held in Grand Hyatt hotel in Dubai under the theme ‘Achieving a Sustainable Future for The Middle East Through Transformation.’ Industry experts shared their insights on innovation, technology, and transformation, as well as plans to achieve a sustainable future for the Middle East.

    “Years back, commenting on the launch of the National Innovation Strategy, to make the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai said, ‘Our target is to be among the most innovative nations in the world. The race to be competitive demands a constant flow of new ideas, as well as innovative leadership using different methods and tools to direct the change.’ I will highlight some of our globally distinguished international figures achieved by DEWA during the pandemic to illustrate our resilience and some of our prominent transformation projects prevalent during the same period. DEWA’s annual Customer Minutes Lost were reduced to 1.43 minutes, compared to around 15 minutes by leading utilities in the European Union. We reduced losses in power transmission and distribution networks to 3.3%, compared to 6-7% in Europe and the USA. Water network losses decreased to 5.3%, compared to around 15% in North America, achieving global results in reducing water losses. DEWA sustainably improved the design of water and power infrastructure, to improve the fuel consumption efficiency rate to 90%, and generation efficiency by 37.63% for ongoing improvement between 2006 and 2021,” said Al Tayer.

    Al Tayer noted that DEWA won 383 awards and accolades from 2015 till today, among them the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Global Award in 2020 as the first and only organisation outside Europe, and the EFQM Innovation Lens with eight stars as the first government entity in the world to achieve this outstanding result.

    “Our strategy is focused on enabling a clean future for its customers and communities, through innovation and technology. OUR 10X Initiative is based on digital organisational transformation and focuses on four pillars to deliver a new utility experience for Dubai and the world. These include Solar Energy, Energy Storage, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Services. DEWA supports and is well-aligned to the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, which aims to provide 100% of Dubai’s energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050,” added Al Tayer.

    Al Tayer mentioned some examples of innovative projects that use future technologies, to transform into a fully digital utility corporation. These include the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world. It has an installed capacity of approximately 1.5 GW, with a total capacity reaching 5 GW by 2030. At full capacity, it is expected to reduce Dubai’s carbon emissions by more than 6.5 million tons annually. Today, around 11.4% of DEWA’s energy capacity comes from clean sources, and this is expected to reach around 14% by the end of 2022. An AED 7 billion Smart Grid programme over the course of 2014-2035 includes six main governance themes that ensure a smooth, quick, and effective functioning of the Smart Grid. DEWA is looking to increase the number of its EV charging stations around Dubai from over 325 in 2021 to more than 1,000 by 2025. This has encouraged more people to buy EVs in Dubai. In January 2022, we launched DEWA-SAT 1, a 3U nanosatellite, part of DEWA’s Space-D Programme, becoming the world’s first utilities and energy infrastructure company to use nanosatellites and space technologies such as satellite imagery to improve operations, maintenance, and the planning of energy networks. DEWA utilises artificial intelligence and is proud to be the first non-telco entity to receive an Internet of Things license, with a 98.7% smart adoption of its services.

    “Looking ahead, DEWA will support the UAE’s strategic growth ambitions by providing millions of residents and visitors with world-class services and innovative energy solutions, and that in turn will enrich lives while ensuring the happiness and wellbeing of all our stakeholders and shape the future of utilities. I would like to conclude with a quote by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who highlighted the future by saying ‘The future starts today not tomorrow’, which requires all organisations to start the disruptive transformation using innovation and technology to shape the future,” concluded Al Tayer.

     



    حمّل تطبيق Alamrakamy| عالم رقمي الآن