Dubai Electricity and Water Authority will invest Dh8 billion on energy projects this year and has no plans to tap the bond market to finance its spending, its chief executive said.
Dewa will spend the funds on ongoing projects including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and a water desalination plant, Saeed Al Tayer said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the State of the Green Economy report launch.
"It varies from year to year. It's around Dh8bn on average in 2019," Mr Al Tayer said. "Our investments in the coming five years is about Dh81bn and Dh40bn will come from the private sector, so there's no need to go to market."
Dubai is aiming to generate 25 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050 as part of its clean energy push. Dewa is building the world’s largest solar energy park amid plans to reduce reliance on natural gas as the main source of energy for electricity.
The emirate is set to beat its 2020 clean energy target of 7 per cent and will be able to source 8 per cent of its power from renewables by next year, which will amount to 1000 megawatts, according to Mr Al Tayer.
Dewa, which is building the region’s first hydroelectric pumped storage plant in Hatta, plans to tender the project in May, Mr Al Tayer said, adding that the deadline for the project bids was extended by a month.
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"Soon we’re going to open the tender and then we see the result. After that it will take three months for the evaluation," he said. "Around May we will finalise the tender and it will be awarded."
The 250MW project in Hatta, an inland enclave 134km east of Dubai straddling the Hajar mountains bordering Oman, will use water resources from the existing 1,716 million-gallon capacity dam.
Dewa, which awarded an energy consultancy contract for the hydroelectric power station to France’s EDF, has estimated the cost of the project at around Dh1.92bn.
