DEWA commissions 1,414 distribution substations of 11 kV in 2023

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has commissioned 1,414 distribution substations of 11KV capacity across Dubai in 2023, DEWA MD and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said on Monday.

In a filing with Dubai Financial Market (DFM), where DEWA’s shares are traded, the utility said that the construction of the substations and related tasks resulted in a total of 996,648 man-hours, according to the highest standards of health and safety.

“In line with the vision and directives of the wise leadership, DEWA builds a state-of-the-art infrastructure that keeps pace with the sustainable development requirements in Dubai and meets the needs of customers, developers, and businesses,” Al Tayer said.

According to him, this was achieved through well thought-out and reliable planning processes based on the latest foresight tools to contribute to the sustainable urban development of Dubai, supporting the goals of the Dubai 2040 Urban Masterplan.

“In addition to energy and water production projects, DEWA is working to enhance the transmission and distribution networks based on electricity demand forecast until 2030, considering the Emirate’s demographic and economic growth,” Al Tayer added.

Rashid Bin Humaidan, Executive Vice President of Distribution Power at DEWA, said that total number of medium voltage substations (11 kV and 6.6 kV) reached 44,015 stations by the end of 2023. He emphasised that all substations were implemented according to the highest standards of quality, efficiency, and safety using the latest digital technologies.

DEWA is a public service infrastructure company that was founded on 1 January 1992 by Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It is also providing globally leading sustainable, efficient, and reliable power and water services, and related innovative smart solutions towards the Net- Zero Future.

DEWA provides its services to over one million customers in Dubai according to the highest levels of quality, availability and efficiency. By the end of 2022, DEWA’s installed capacity reached 14,517 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 490 million gallons of desalinated water per day.

One Million Customers

DEWA is continually developing world-class infrastructure to meet Dubai’s growing demand for power and water. It has invested over $57.16 billion in generation, transmission and distribution projects that operate at the highest levels of efficiency and reliability.

DEWA’s results surpassed major European and American utilities in several key performance indicators. In 2022, losses from electricity transmission and distribution networks were reduced to 2.2% compared to 6%-7% in Europe and the US.

Water network losses were also reduced to 4.5% compared to around 15% in North America. DEWA has achieved a new world record in electricity Customer Minutes Lost (CML) per year. Dubai recorded 1.19 minutes per customer, compared to around 15 minutes recorded by leading utility companies in the European Union.