The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, DEWA, has signed a MoU with Dubai Airports, as part of efforts to expand co-operation and joint partnerships to promote Smart Dubai, launched by Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The goal is to achieve the Dubai Plan 2021, which aims to make Dubai a smart, integrated, and connected city. The agreement seeks to unify energies and resources, exchange knowledge, innovation, ideas and effective communication to implement DEWA’s three smart initiatives at Dubai Airports, to meet the needs of the community and to achieve the overall interests of the emirate.

Commenting on the signing, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, said, "As part of DEWA’s efforts to achieve sustainable development, and support the Smart Dubai initiative, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world, we are pleased to sign the MoU with Dubai Airports.

"We are committed to strengthening our co-operation and working together to integrate Dubai’s government institutions for the public good by implementing the three smart initiatives we launched, in 2014, to drive Dubai’s smart transformation, at Dubai Airports’ specified locations. This ensures the management of Dubai’s services and facilities through connected and smart systems."

DEWA’s smart initiatives include ‘Shams Dubai’ to encourage home and building owners to install photovoltaic, PV, solar panels on rooftops to produce energy and connect it to DEWA’s grid and ‘Smart Applications through Smart Meters and Grids’ designed to speed up service delivery and response, to ensure reconnection in case of unplanned service interruption. The third initiative is the ‘Green Charger,’ which seeks to establish the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations. This works to achieve society’s happiness and to support the sustainability of resources.

"The three smart initiatives are part of DEWA’s efforts in the field of smart transformation, in accordance with a clear strategy that is in line with the latest technology and latest developments. DEWA has succeeded in transforming all its services into smart services, within one year of the launch of the Smart Dubai initiative, providing smart and timely services that enable customers to complete their transactions anywhere and at any time, without visiting DEWA’s customer happiness centres. This saves their time and effort, and promotes DEWA’s vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility," Al Tayer explained.

"In line with the long-term goals of the aviation industry, Dubai Airports' vision is to ultimately attain carbon-neutral growth, and this co-operation represents an important step towards achieving that goal," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

"Dubai Airports is constantly seeking innovative ideas and new technologies designed to limit our environmental impact through an integrated environmental strategy, while supporting the UAE Vision 2021, Dubai Plan, and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy’s goal of achieving 20 percent reduction in utility bills for all government buildings by 2020," Griffiths concluded.