Dubai -- Early adopters and fans of electric cars, take heart.
Soon, you can drive your Tesla S or Leaf powered by your home solar panel or from a super charging station. And, you may even sell the extra power you produce from your solar panels to others.
This ain't science fiction. It's what Dubai aims to achieve in the next three years as it pulls out all the stops for green transport and self-production of power.
This was outlined in Dubai on Wednesday by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) Managing Director & CEO Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, during the launch of the Dubai Smart City initiative.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the strategy to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world in the next three years.
The "Smart Dubai" strategy comprises six key thrusts -- smart life, smart transportation, smart society, smart economy, smart governance and smart environment -- aimed to add more dynamism to life in the Emirate.
The drive encourages public-private sector collaboration.
Dubai, which aims to be the most sustainable city by 2020, has set a massive green energy drive in motion.
In October, the first phase of Dubai's $3.3 billion Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park went live as part of a push to diversify energy supplies.
Under the green power plan announced on Wednesday, Dewa will encourage home and building owners to install solar panels to power their homes or buildings, and Dewa will connect those panels to a distribution network and buy the energy from them.
The plan also calls for creating an infrastructure for charging electric cars in the Emirate.
“I’m extremely delighted by this news,” said lawyer Michael Krämer, who owns a Tazzari electric car and Fisker Karma. "If it’s true, I’m gonna install my panel at home tomorrow. I’m not even kidding."
He said with Dewa’s opening the way private for households to install solar panels, "it will really be a great time for us here in Dubai to make significantly more use of this readily available natural resource.”
Dubai is currently ranks the world's best in terms of electricity reliability.
