Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) launched its first sustainability report today during MEED’s Dubai Clean Energy Forum held in the UAE emirate on 22-24 September.

The document sets out the utility’s plans around sustainable energy use, and lays out 10 targets that cover economic development, environmental protection, stakeholders and community. These include energy security, diversification and efficiency.

“We [want] to achieve a host of objectives, at the top of which are protecting the environment and its natural balance through a comprehensive and sustainable development for the benefit of future generations,” said Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dewa.

The 10 areas are:

• Economic development
• Market performance
• Customers
• Energy and climate change
• Water
• Environmental protection
• Employees
• Suppliers
• Stakeholders and community
• Governance and ethics

Each has a target commitment and a key performance indicator upon which it is measured. For instance, for water, the utility’s aim is to improve efficiency of supply and reduce leaks, unmetered supply and technical losses. Dewa’s 2013 performance, which is being used as the baseline, was 10.4 per cent.

For energy and climate change, its aim is to reduce carbon emissions for each megawatt hour (MWh) generated. In 2012, this was 0.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent for each MWh.

Dubai has previously announced targets around energy security, which was again outlined in the report. The emirate wants to diversify from gas, with a greater mix from other resources. By 2030, it wants gas to make up 71 per cent of its power supply, with 12 per cent from nuclear, 12 per cent from coal and 5 per cent from solar. For coal, it plans to adopt a clean strategy by employing carbon scrubbing, capture and storage strategies, with the captured carbon injected into oil and gas wells.

Last year, the utility generated 9,656MW of power and supplied 470 million gallons a day (g/d) of water.