Earlier this year, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) announced the implementation of an initiative that will give the green light for residents and businesses to install rooftop solar panels by late 2014 or early 2015. As you read this article, keep the following three questions in mind: What does this mean for the future of Dubai’s energy production and consumption? How will this affect the UAE’s energy production process and status? And if this initiative is implemented appropriately, could the UAE deviate away from finite sources of energy that are polluting our cities and more importantly, our planet. Can we actually transition to sustainable energy sources while maintaining the UAE’s position as an energy exporter?


The most frequent complaint I hear from home owners in the UAE is that their energy bills are high (especially in the summer!).

Increasingly, energy costs are a key deciding factor for home buyers. In addition to that, according to the Global Footprint Network, the UAE has the largest ecological footprint per person in the world and this calls for action to be taken both by the government and residents of the UAE.


Dewa’s initiative signifies that the authorities are moving in the right direction, mindful of both the issue and potential solutions.

Importantly, this initiative will provide both residents and businesses of Dubai with the right tools to diversify our sources of energy, place a cap on its usage and limit the direct cost of their energy bills. Furthermore, Dewa is offering a buy-back service, where users who generate excess solar energy can sell back some of that energy for Dewa to place it back into the city’s grid. This will allow Dewa customers to actively contribute to Dubai power production, helping not only to pay for the implementation of the new technology, but also to have long-term profitability as a goal.

Growing demand

Now allow me to paint you an image of what the UAE’s energy production could be shaped into 50 years from now. If this initiative by Dewa is a success, I believe it will be the catalyst in the UAE’s radical change in energy consumption, production and export. With growing demand for solar energy use in Dubai and the region, the UAE would build a strong and reliable infrastructure for solar energy use that will allow the UAE to shift its energy production and energy exports to solar energy. As the UAE is blessed with constant sun light, the production of solar energy will be an opportunity for the UAE to invest into research for increased efficiencies and innovations around solar power.

This could lead to the UAE becoming a centre for renewable energy innovation; where experts from all over the world work together to find new ways and methods for harnessing solar energy to power all aspects of our lives, from cars, airplanes and mobile devices to our homes, schools, universities and skyscrapers.

The UAE could become a nation that exports solar energy to countries that can’t produce their own, causing a ripple effect that will compel countries previously constrained by higher hydrocarbon energy prices to use inexpensive solar energy from the UAE to increase the development of their country. With that the UAE will not only remain a global exporter of energy but become a global exporter of clean and sustainable energy.

It would be a remarkable transition to find that, gifted with the natural resource of oil we could also move on to use our other gifted natural resource: Our abundant sunlight!

To conclude, I would like to say that Dewa has the capability to be a powerhouse and an enabler of change when it comes to the UAE’s future energy diversification and I wish them the best of luck in ensuring that the solar energy initiative is implemented in the most suitable manner, for it will be written in the books of history as the start of the UAE’s new independence, the journey from finite to sustainable energy.

Saeed Al Gergawi is a specialist in future technology trends. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@saeed_algergawi