Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has awarded consultancy contracts for two key projects aimed at meeting the UAE emirate's power and water needs.

Dewa has awarded a contract for the advisory services to develop the fourth phase of the Aweer Power Station ‘H’, worth Dh22.2 million ($6.04 million), the authority said.

“The project aims to test, supply, and install three gas turbines with a total capacity of 700 megawatts (MW). The first turbine will be operational by January 1, 2020, the second on March 1, 2020, and the third on April 30, 2020,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa..

The power station is one of Dewa’s most important projects, to help meet the growing demand for electricity.

The station is equipped with the latest control systems and technologies to reduce emissions. The turbines will be completely fuelled with natural gas.

The Aweer Power Station ‘H’ has a current total capacity of 1,974 MW, consisting of 607 MW for the first phase, 421 MW for the second phase, and 946 MW for the third phase. Once the 700 MW fourth phase is complete, the station will have a total capacity of 2,674 MW.

Another consultancy contract worth Dh16.3 million ($4.43 million) was awarded to an international company to develop a new desalination plant using reverse osmosis (RO) technology at the Jebel Ali Power Station (JAPS).

The project is part of the Dubai Plan 2021, said a Wam news agency report.

With a total desalination capacity of 40 million gallons per day, the project would be operational by April 2020, said Al Tayer.

"In adherence with the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, Dewa is working to retrofit existing plants with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. This will reduce carbon emissions in the future. The plants use multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation technology, and need to be connected to a central solar plant. This includes the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park. In adherence with its strategy, Dewa has chosen to use reverse osmosis technology which uses about 90 per cent less power than MSF technology," added Al Tayer.

"In Dubai, our production capacity is 470 million gallons per day (mgpd), of which 25 mgpd is produced using RO technology. In Dubai, most of the plants use MSF technology, and only six per cent use RO. MSF desalination is powered by the waste heat and is therefore fuel-free. This means that its carbon footprint is zero," concluded Al Tayer. - TradeArabia News Service