DEWA's Role in Shaping Dubai's Green Future

Dubai Electricity Water Authority, best known as DEWA (pronounced: /dei-wah/ or /dju:wa/) for short, is a publicly listed utility company, at the face of it. But dig a little bit deeper, and one quickly realizes that it is not just any typical utility company. For starters, it might surprise some, that Dubai’s utility player is the 15th largest utility company in the world, by market capitalization – and all this despite having one of the fewest subsidiaries and employees in comparison to most other top global utilities players. In 2023, DEWA’s annual consolidated revenue increased by 7% to AED 29.2 billion (equivalent to US $7.96 billion).

From Humble Roots

DEWA was officially formed over thirty years ago in 1992, when the Dubai Electricity Company and the Dubai Water Department were merged by decree by the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Both organizations had been established and been operating independently since 1959.

DEWA has grown step by step, alongside the city which was home to only 537,000 inhabitants in 1992. Today, Dubai’s population has grown over 7X in thirty years to reach over 3.6 million. In 2023, DEWA provided water, electricity and cooling services to more than 1.2 million customers in Dubai and does so with greater efficiency and reliability than many European and American utilities players globally. DEWA continues to build world-class energy infrastructure that will serve the future population of Dubai, projected to reach 5.8 million by 2040.

DEWA's Jebel Ali Power Plant and Water Desalination

Becoming Number One, Globally

DEWA has had its eye on becoming a top world ranking utility company for over a decade now. Looking back at the Dubai-born utility company’s performance across globally standardized key performance indicators (KPIs) over the past ten years, you’ll find steady performance improvements year on year. For years now, though the World Bank ceased the publication of their annual “Doing Business” Report in 2019, which ranked every country in the world across a myriad of indicators; in the last three consecutive years of that ranking, DEWA scored number one in the world for the “getting electricity” indicators, which measured time and cost of procedures for businesses to obtain permanent electricity connections of a newly constructed warehouse. In 2023, a study conducted by a specialized international consultant evaluated DEWA’s performance against the world’s top utility players. DEWA has continued to reduce its losses from electricity transmission and distribution networks to 2%, while global players averaged 5% or more. DEWA also achieved the lowest customer down time in the world, achieving 1.06 customer minutes lost per year (CML), compared to Europe’s standard of 10-15 minutes. Water network losses were also 4.6% in Dubai, compared to 20% to 50% in America.

DEWA in many ways has become a role model in managing projects based on the Independent Water and Power Producer (IWPP) model, which has grown in popularity around the world due to its many economic benefits, including attracting investments that stimulate the economy. IWPP’s engage in the construction, operation and maintenance of power plants and desalination facilities, and it is generally understood that IWPP’s offer several advantages over traditional power plants, including higher efficiency, better resource management, and reduced environmental impact. 

Dubai has established a strong regulatory framework to encourage private sector investments, which has enabled DEWA to achieve globally leading results and world records in the lowest prices for solar energy and desalinated water using clean energy. 

In April 2019, DEWA inaugurated the M-Station expansion project, making it the largest power generation and water desalination plant in the UAE. The combined cost of the construction and expansion of M-Station is AED 11.7 billion (US $3.2 billion equivalent); the expansion increased the station’s total capacity to 2,885 MW and 140 million imperial gallons of water per day (MIGD) and utilizes SIEMENS turbine technology which is 90% efficient with one of the highest thermal efficiency rates in the world.

At the end of 2023, DEWA manages and operates groundwater wells with a capacity of 36 million imperial gallons of water daily (MIGD), and desalination plants with a capacity of 495 MIGD. DEWA also delivered nearly 57,000 GWh of electricity to customers in Dubai through 43,000 kilometers of power transmission and distribution lines spanning the Emirate. The company also manages 700 electric vehicle (EV) charge points across the city, and has multiple subsidiaries under its management, including Empower (56% ownership), which is the world’s largest district cooling services provider by connected capacity.

DEWA also owns Mai Dubai, a water bottling manufacturing and distribution company which distributes water within the UAE and regional markets. Dubai’s Commitment to Net Zero by 2050 In November 2015, Dubai launched the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050. The original target set-out within the strategy was to achieve 75% clean energy production capacity by 2050. Subsequently, the city launched the Dubai Net Zero 2050 Strategy, which increased this target to achieve 100% clean energy production capacity by 2050. The first short-term goal of achieving 7% clean energy production capacity by 2020 was achieved, and Dubai is on track to surpass its 2030 target, with the city forecasted to be able to produce 27% of its energy from renewable and clean energy sources.

Next Read: DEWA’s Role in Shaping Dubai’s Green Future: The Key Projects

Curious about what’s next for Dubai’s renewable energy? Read the report and dive into the details.