Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) has launched its new initiative that allows electric vehicle owners to use the charging stations on its premises free of charge from March 22 until the end of the year.

As part of its aim to encourage people to purchase or rent zero-emission electric cars, DSOA, the regulatory body for Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), granted free usage of the charging stations to the general public. The stations will be open around the clock, seven days a week.

The initiative follows a series of projects implemented by the authority in line with Dubai Clean Energy Strategy that promotes energy efficiency while reducing operational costs with the ultimate objective of shaping Dubai into a city with the smallest carbon footprint in the world by 2050.

Commenting on the announcement, Engineer Muammar Al Katheeri, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Smart City at DSOA, said: “We are keen to support the vision of our wise leadership to transform Dubai into a sustainable and environment-friendly city by reducing carbon emissions. A pillar of our business model, sustainability allows us to contribute to strengthening the emirate’s position as a leading global example for achieving the highest standards in environment conservation.”

Reiterating DSOA’s support for the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy and Dubai Clean Energy Strategy, Al Katheeri emphasized that the authority is committed to its comprehensive CSR strategy that is based on three main pillars: environment, human capital and community. He added: “DSOA will continue to develop environment-friendly programs and initiatives in order to raise awareness about the concept of sustainability among the public”.

Dubai Silicon Oasis currently has three electric vehicle charging stations installed on its premises, each of which can charge up to two vehicles at once. Aiming to increase the count to seven by 2018, DSOA also continues to implement Green Charger, an electric vehicle charging station infrastructure initiative launched by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).

In addition, the authority recently introduced four electric vehicles, used by on-ground security patrols and the attending facilities management units within Dubai Silicon Oasis. DSOA also received recently two Golf GTE plug-in hybrid models from Al Nabooda Automobiles, the official distributor of Volkswagen in Dubai and the Northern Emirates for use by Engineering Management and Smart City team within DSO.

Through a number of smart and environment-friendly projects, DSOA has already surpassed the goals set for Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 and succeeded in reducing its cumulative energy consumption by 31 percent.

Dubai’s Carbon Abatement Strategy aims to develop an effective framework to curb Dubai’s carbon footprint. In 2015, the city succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than five million tons, a decrease by approximately nine percent, which beats the seven percent mark.

A wholly-owned entity of the government of Dubai, Dubai Silicon Oasis operates as a free zone technology park for large enterprises as well as medium and small companies looking to set up their offices in Dubai. – Trade Arabia News Service