Dubai: Three gas turbines that were upgraded by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) at the E-station Phase 1 of its Jebel Ali Power Plant and Water Desalination Complex have helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 65,930 tonnes annually and NOx emissions by 77.3 percent, which is equivalent to that of the most recent, cutting-edge gas turbines on the market.
“We support the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai a role model for the efficiency, reliability, and availability of water and electricity. We also support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100 percent of Dubai’s total power production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050. We aim to deliver a state-of-the-art infrastructure according to the highest international standards. This contributes to achieving the sustainable development goals and supports the growth of the sustainable green economy in the UAE,” Mr. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, remarked.
“DEWA’s application of the latest Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and disruptive technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and other innovative technologies, redesign of operations, engineering, and solar power generation technologies, as well as clean water desalination improved the efficiency of power generation, which has led to significant financial savings,” Mr. Al Tayer, added.
Mr. Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation (Power & Water) at DEWA, noted that after installing any gas turbines, DEWA keeps communicating with the original equipment manufacturers, regarding updates and new cost-effective technologies throughout the turbine life cycle. This increases power generation capacity, efficiency and reliability and extends the life span of the turbines. The life span of the turbines has been extended by 15 years by adopting the concept of repair and reuse to reduce the consumption of natural resources, in line with the UAE Circular Economy Policy.
DEWA has broken its world record in major inspection outage duration for the overhaul of gas turbines and desalination units, which it recorded in 2019. DEWA has reduced the maintenance outages for major inspection operations from 11 days to 9 days, which is a reduction in the maintenance duration of 18 percent, compared to the previous world record achieved and an 84 percent decrease compared to 2006. This has helped DEWA achieve 99.51 percent and 99.83 percent availability in the summer for the E-Class and the F-Class fleet of Gas Turbines (GT), respectively, which is one of the highest percentages worldwide. DEWA sustained its global record in the maintenance of desalination units from 21 days to 10 days.
These records resulted in an availability increase of F-Class GT. Besides providing electricity and water services according to the highest standards of availability, efficiency and reliability, this step contributes to DEWA’s environmental efforts by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 49,329 tonnes per year in addition to the reduction in operational and maintenance costs.