The Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (Wetex) 2014 concluded yesterday (April 16) in Dubai, achieving major goals to achieve the green economy for sustainable development initiative of the emirate.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, vice chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, and MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), Dewa, said that the success of this year’s Wetex is largely due to its being held during Green Week, which will continue until April 20 at Mirdif City Centre, SmarTech Shopper, and the World Green Economy Summit 2014: all of which had a positive impact on strengthening the exhibition’s position as a global specialised exhibition in energy.

The last day of the show was full of activities, including a conference on cooperation between Mena and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the sectors of energy and infrastructure.

Winners of the Best Consumer Award were also announced and Dewa signed MoUs with the Society of Engineers - United Arab Emirates, B/S/H Home Appliances Group, LG Electronics, Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence, Osram Middle East. Dewa also has been certified as compliant with the ISO 14064 standard for sustainability.

A conference on the 1,200MW Hassyan Clean Coal Project Developers Conference, which is planned to work on the Independent Power Producer model, took place on the third day of Wetex 2014.

The conference was attended by 150 participants from over 60 companies. This ambitious project supports the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, outlined by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy to diversify the energy mix by 2030. It is planned to introduce clean coal to produce 12 per cent of Dubai’s total power output by 2030.

“The Dubai Integrated Energy strategy 2030 seeks to improve demand efficiency by diversifying energy sources so that, by 2030, the total power output of Dubai will be 71 per cent generated from natural gas, 12 per cent from nuclear energy, 12 per cent from clean coal, and 5 per cent from solar power 5 per cent, in addition to reducing energy demand by 30 per cent by the year 2030,” said Al Tayer.

Phase One of the project is due to begin in the start of 2020 and will have a production capacity of 600 MW. The second phase will have an equal production capacity and will be launched in the last quarter of 2020.

Dewa, represented by Al Tayer, has also signed an MoU with the Society of Engineers - United Arab Emirates, represented by Essa Al Maidoor, president of the Society of Engineers.

The purpose of this MoU is to exchange of knowledge, expertise and cooperation on training programmes and joint activities and initiatives for smart cities, spreading awareness about sustainability, environmental awareness and benchmarking, and communicating with groups on specialised technical cooperation projects in corporate social responsibility.

“We have strong collaboration with the UAE Society of Engineers covering the promotion of conferences and events organised by Dewa, encouraging enrolment of Dewa's architects in the Society of Engineers, the exchange of expertise and research in the field of energy and its sustainability,” said Al Tayer.

On the last day of the show, Al Tayer was certified by the Green Project Management Sustainable Centre of Excellence as being carbon neutral, the first CEO to receive this award in the region.

Al Tayer said that the levels of savings in the consumption of water and electricity achieved by the winners ranges from 17-53 per cent for water and 17-56 per cent for electricity, which is a clear indicator of the efficacy of these campaigns in raising awareness across all aspects of society.

"We are proud of the innovative ways in which Dewa's customers have achieved remarkable savings that exceeded 50 per cent in one year alone," Al Tayer added.

Dewa has managed to save 5,902,065kWh of electricity and 33,564,486 gallons of water in 2013. The total savings for the last five years is over Dh22.4 million ($6 million).

SmarTech Shopper, which is held under the theme "For A Better Life", also witnessed impressive numbers of retail visitors where exhibitors presented various household appliances and eco-friendly applications. The visitors had the opportunity to get special deals for various household appliances.

Dewa has signed an agreement with Dubai Carbon, to mitigate the effects of climate change by the efficient use of the UAE’s resources, reducing the carbon intensity and energy consumed.

Dewa also signed signed an MoU with LG Electronics, which produces household electronics. Both parties joined hands in promoting green and sustainable products and solutions.

The exhibition displayed latest technologies relevant to water, energy, environment, oil, gas, energy resources-management, green economy and development solutions.

Many scientific conference and specialised seminars were organised on the sidelines of Wetex 2014 during which participants have discussed the latest developments in energy affairs, research and technological and scientific progress in the areas of sustainable energy.

Such seminars have attracted international experts to discuss the latest solutions in the field of water and various sources of energy.

The topics of discussion included water solutions and related technology including sewage, reverse osmosis, absorption chillers, transportation pipelines and others.

Experts during the seminars discussed ways of sustainable energy and the latest findings on reducing energy and water consumption, energy and water efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. – TradeArabia News Service