Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has announced that the construction progress of Sustainability, a 132/11 kilovolt (kV) main substation at Expo 2020 Dubai, with conversion capacity of 150 megavolt-amperes (MVA), is 77 per cent complete and is expected to be operational by October 31, 2017.

Dubai's utility firm is building three 132/11kV substations with 45 km of high-voltage 132-kV cables at a cost of Dh420 million ($114.3 million).

The substations are called Sustainability, Mobility, and Opportunity, names which support Expo 2020’s theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and its three sub-themes of Sustainability, Mobility and Opportunity.

The total cost of the Sustainability substation will be Dh103 million ($28 million), including Dh83.4 million ($22.7 million) for the plant and Dh19.8 million ($5.4 million) for the 132 kV cables.

"As part of our commitment to provide a unique energy infrastructure that meets all the needs of sustainable development in the emirate, we have allocated $1.15 billion to support the electricity, water and renewable energy infrastructure to the highest global standards," said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dewa.

"This supports the organisation of Expo 2020 Dubai to prove to the world our excellence in public utilities and our focus on exploring renewable and clean sources of energy," he noted.

Dewa has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Expo 2020 Dubai to become its official sustainable energy partner.

The Dubai utility firm is working through the Shams Dubai initiative, which will contribute power from solar arrays installed on Expo 2020’s buildings, the Green Charger initiative to supply three different types of electric vehicle charging stations, and the Smart Applications and Smart Meters initiative to build smart grids within the exhibition to cover its generation, transmission, and distribution systems.-TradeArabia News Service