HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), recently met with a senior delegation from Shell led by Fakher Bader, Country Chair for Iraq and the UAE. The meeting focused on Shell’s latest report, “The 2025 Energy Security Scenarios: Energy and Artificial Intelligence,” which examines how artificial intelligence could impact global energy systems through three different scenarios: Archipelagos, Horizon, and Surge.
These scenarios are intended to help industry stakeholders prepare for future challenges, assess risks, and identify opportunities as the energy sector evolves. Both parties discussed potential collaboration in advancing circular economy practices and supporting green economic growth.
During the meeting, Al Tayer outlined DEWA’s ongoing projects in clean energy. He highlighted the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, currently recognized as the world’s largest single-site solar park operating under the independent power producer model. The park has an existing capacity of 3,860 megawatts (MW) with plans to reach 7,260MW by 2030—an increase from its original target of 5,000MW.
The sixth phase of the solar park will deliver 1,800MW using bifacial photovoltaic technology with single-axis tracking. This phase is expected to supply clean electricity to about 540,000 homes while reducing carbon emissions by roughly 2.36 million tonnes annually.
Plans for a seventh phase involve installing up to 2,000MW of photovoltaic panels along with a battery storage system capable of storing up to 6,000 megawatt-hours. This would make it one of the largest solar-plus-storage projects globally. Forty-seven international companies have shown interest in participating in this phase under the IPP model.
Al Tayer also described DEWA’s new headquarters project—Al Shera’a—which aims to be both the tallest and largest net-positive energy government building worldwide. The building is designed for platinum LEED certification and silver WELL Building Standard certification. It will incorporate technologies such as IoT devices, big data analytics, AI systems, and modern renewable energy solutions for improved efficiency.
He further noted DEWA’s progress in adopting artificial intelligence across its operations as part of its strategy to become an AI-native utility provider. In support of this goal, DEWA has achieved several performance milestones: it recorded transmission and distribution network losses at just 2%, compared to higher rates seen in Europe and North America; water losses were also among the lowest globally at 4.5%; customer minutes lost averaged only 0.94 per year compared to an EU average of around 15 minutes.
Fakher Bader reaffirmed Shell’s support for the UAE’s clean energy transition efforts: “Shell is pleased to share insights from our 2025 Energy Security Scenarios with DEWA. These scenarios are designed to spark dialogue and offer perspectives on how emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, can accelerate the energy transition. AI has the potential to optimize energy systems, enhance resilience, and unlock new efficiencies. By engaging in these forward-looking conversations we aim to support the UAE’s ambitions for a smarter more sustainable energy future.”
“As outlined in Shell’s 2025 Energy Security Scenarios,” Bader continued,“artificial intelligence is a powerful enabler accelerating decarbonization optimizing energy systems and unlocking new efficiencies.”
