Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has announced that 222 buildings have been installed with rooftop solar panels and connected to the grid in October this year as part of its Shams initiative.
This includes residential and commercial buildings in Dubai with a capacity of over 6 megawatts.
DEWA has enrolled 44 contracting and consultancy companies with a total of 247 engineers certified as enrolled electrical and solar photovoltaic consultants and contractors while 70 manufacturers of solar power equipment registered 578 products as eligible for Shams Dubai.
Also, DEWA is cooperating with 18 government organizations to install PV panels on 35 government buildings.
Shams Dubai in adherence with the Smart Dubai initiative was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to encourage building owners to install PV panels on their rooftops to generate electricity from solar power.
The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s grid. An offset between exported and imported electricity units is conducted and the customer account is settled based on this offset.
Construction of the largest distributed solar rooftop project in the Middle East is underway after DP World commissioned the installation of 88,000 rooftop solar panels on its Dubai facilities in Jebel Ali Free Zone and Mina Rashid. Phase one will be completed in 2017.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa, said: “The number of projects completed and those in the pipeline show our commitment towards achieving the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to make Dubai a global center of clean energy and green economy. Our strategy aims to increase Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources to 75% by 2050,”.
PR
8 November
