Supreme Council of Energy builds partnerships and investment opportunities with EDF

PARIS: A delegation from the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), headed by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy and MD, CEO of DEWA, who is attending a Paris Summit conference, has met with Henri Proglio, Chairman and CEO, of Electricite de France S.A. (EDF), Olivier Orsini, Senior Executive Vice President of Development in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Denis Lepee, Special Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of EDF, in addition to key experts and senior representatives from EDF. The meeting was attended by Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources, Abdulnasser Abbas, Senior Director of Treasury, and Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communications. The delegation was briefed about the electricity and power sector in France, the relevant technologies, and systems applied, especially in energy management, renewable energy, and thermal energy. Mr. Proglio explained about EDF’s latest developments, projects and activities as the company provides 60 percent of the electricity and water consumed in France. Al Tayer thanked the French side for their warm welcome, and presented an overview on initiatives by the Supreme Council of Energy, including Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 (DIES 2030) to diversify Dubai’s energy mix and reduce demand for energy by implementing the best global practices in conserving resources. He also explained vital DEWA projects currently being carried out as well as state-of-the-art technologies and green initiatives implemented in Dubai. Al Tayer emphasised DEWA's interest and commitment to becoming a global model in implementing smart applications and systems, noting that DEWA has achieved competitive results, which surpassed the best European and American companies in terms of efficiency and reliability. This is clearly apparent, he said, in reducing losses in power transmission and distribution networks to 3.46% compared to 6-7% in Europe and the U.S.A. Also, loss in water networks was reduced to 10.4% compared with 15% in North America, achieving leading rates in this field. DEWA achieved the best global results in terms of customer lost minutes per year, which was 5.62 minutes per customer in comparison with 15 minutes registered by the best electricity companies in the European Union countries. Mr. Orsini expressed his deep appreciation of DEWA's leading achievements, emphasising EDF's interest to share expertise with DEWA. Also, Orsini expressed EDF's interest to participate in DEWA's projects, especially clean energy projects, including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, to share expertise, information and technology, and to participate in achieving sustainable growth for Dubai. Orsini also emphasised that EDF would participate in the next Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (WETEX 2015). The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and DEWA delegation also visited the EDF Research and Development Centre and Solar Energy Centre in Paris, France. They were welcomed by Michel Maschi, Vice President of International Research Centres and Partnerships. The two sides discussed methods of fostering collaboration and strategic partnerships, especially in the field of smart grids. It was also agreed to develop programmes to share expertise and train DEWA employees in the EDF's R & D Centres. – Emirates News Agency, WAM - http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395270854261.html