OUR VISION

A sustainable innovative world-class utility.

OUR MISSION
We are committed to the happiness of our stakeholders and promoting Dubai’s vision
through the delivery of sustainable electricity and water services at a world-class level
of reliability, efficiency and safety، in an environment that nurtures innovation with a
competent workforce and effective partnerships; supporting resources sustainability.

OUR MOTTO
For generations to come.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Founder of UAE, 1918-2004

We cherish our environment because it is an integral part of our country, our history and our
heritage. On land and in the sea, our forefathers lived and survived in this environment. They
were able to do so only because they recognised the need to conserve it, to take from it only
what they needed to live, and to preserve it for succeeding generations.
His Highness
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
President of the United Arab Emirates
“

Protection of the environment and achievement of sustainable development in the UAE is

a national duty; it has its own institutional structures, integrated legislature and advanced
systems.
His Highness
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE
and Ruler of Dubai
“

Our goal is to establish the UAE as a successful global model combining: economic growth,
energy sustainability & a clean, safe environment.
His Excellency
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority
MESSAGE FROM THE MD & CEO OF
DUBAI ELECTRICITY AND WATER AUTHORITY
Dear Stakeholders,
The world’s increasing population is having a major alongside some of the leading nations in clean
impact on the Earth’s environment, including the energy development. The report also noted that
depletion of natural resources, and an increase in the UAE achieved the lowest bids globally for the
carbon emissions. This is the result of a number cost of photovoltaic solar projects. One major
of factors including the current unsustainable factor is the establishment of the Mohammed
lifestyle of the world’s population. bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the
largest single-site solar park in the world based
DEWA’s strategy derives from the Dubai Clean
on the Independent Power Producer model (IPP).
Energy Strategy 2050, launched by HH Sheikh
It will generate 1,000 megawatts (MW) by 2020,
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
and 5,000MW by 2030, with a total investment
President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler
of AED 50 billion. The park will contribute to a
of Dubai to transform Dubai into an international
reduction of approximately 6.5 million tonnes of
hub for clean energy and green economy, by
carbon dioxide emissions per annum.
providing 7% of Dubai’s total power output from
clean energy by 2020, 25% by 2030, and 75% The solar park reflects DEWA’s efforts towards
from clean resources by 2050. In addition, we achieving sustainable development, as we realise
work to achieve and support Dubai’s Demand the important role that renewable energy plays, in
Side Management Strategy, to reduce energy and finding a balance between achieving sustainable
water demand by 30% by 2030, and the Dubai development and preserving the environment.
Carbon Abatement Strategy to reduce carbon We will continue to place sustainability at the heart
emissions by 16% by 2021. of our business strategy, incorporating it into all
DEWA is also working according to the strategic our activities as we strive to achieve our vision to
objectives set by the long-term “A Green Economy become a sustainable innovative world-class utility,
for Sustainable Development” national initiative hence contributing to our people’s happiness,
launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid providing electricity and water according to the
Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister highest international standards and enhance the
of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; to develop a green leading position of the UAE.
economy in the UAE. We are also working hard I trust that you will find this report useful and
to achieve HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al transparent in recording our achievements, progress
Maktoum’s Smart Dubai initiative, to transform and our journey towards our goal of making the
Dubai into the smartest and happiest city in the UAE one of the best countries in the world by the
world, with the lowest carbon footprint. time we celebrate our Golden Jubilee in 2021 and
According to the World Bank’s Regulatory urge you to join us in our long term quest to ensure
Indicators for Sustainable Energy Report, the future generations will have the right to enjoy a
UAE ranked first regionally and 28th globally, sustainable and qualitative life on planet Earth.
 DEWA Sustainability Report 2016

Table of Contents

1. ABOUT THIS REPORT ..............................................................................................................................

2. ABOUT DEWA ..................................................................................................................................................

a. Case Study: Corporate Finance Deal of the Year..............................................

3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT .....................................................................................................

a. Case Study: Sustainability Leadership Conference ........................................

b. Case Study: Environmental Induction for DEWA Academy ...................

4. ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE .........................................................................................................

a. Case Study: M-Station ................................................................................................................

b. Case Study: Remote Monitoring of Distribution Substations

& Earth Fault Indicators (EFI) ............................................................................................
5. WATER ....................................................................................................................................................................

a. Case Study: Efficiency Improvement and Energy Optimisation

Pumps ......................................................................................................................................................

b. Case Study: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Global Water Award ...................................................................................................................
6. CUSTOMERS .....................................................................................................................................................

a. Case Study: Ideal Home .........................................................................................................

7. EMPLOYEES .....................................................................................................................................................

a. Case Study: DEWA2021 Street Art Competition ..........................................

b. Case Study: Future Engineers ..........................................................................................

8. SOCIETY ................................................................................................................................................................

a. Case Study: Climate Change Champion Programme ...................................

I Material Aspects and Boundaries ....................................................................................................

II GRI Content Index .........................................................................................................................................

III Assurance Statement .................................................................................................................................

ABOUT
DUBAI ELECTRICITY AND
WATER AUTHORITY
ABOUT THIS REPORT
This is DEWA’s fourth annual sustainability report. It reflects the ways in which we are fulfilling our
long–term commitments towards sustainability by examining our material economic, environmental,
social, and governance topics with the purpose to communicate our sustainability performance and
management practices to our stakeholders and to further enhance our dialogue with them.

SCOPE AND BOUNDARY

DEFINING THE CONTENT

The data and statements contained in this DEWA’s 2016 Sustainability Report provides
report relate to and include all of DEWA’s information on our sustainability performance and
core operations and processes under DEWA’s it is aimed at all of our organisation’s stakeholder
management control unless otherwise stated. groups. DEWA is committed to reporting on its
Data from Joint Ventures and subcontractors is sustainability performance annually, and this
not reported unless otherwise stated. report follows the 2015 Sustainability Report.
This report has been prepared in accordance with
The performance data provided in the report the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards:
covers the reporting period from January 1st Core option. GRI provides the world’s most widely
to December 31st 2016. Ongoing initiatives used standards on sustainability reporting and
commenced in earlier years as well as disclosure, enabling organisations around the world
information deemed significant from our to communicate their sustainability performance
previous reports have also been included in and impacts. The process for defining the report’s
this report. Note that there have not been content was based on the new GRI Standards as
any restatements or major changes to data well as GRI G4 Electric Utilities Sector Disclosures.
measurement used compared to those The principles of inclusiveness, materiality,
employed in the previous report. Where sustainability and completeness were implemented
differences do exist, this is clearly stated in the as well as those of the Accountability AA1000
relevant section. Standard on inclusiveness, materiality and
responsiveness.

TAKING SUSTAINABILITY
REPORTING TO THE
NEXT LEVEL COMMENTS
Believing that transparency is the result At DEWA, we constantly seek to evolve and
of providing comprehensive, credible and improve our sustainability performance.
comparable information, we have again Therefore, we greatly value feedback from our
submitted 2016 Sustainability Report for stakeholders, so please send your comments,
external assurance (reasonable level) to an questions, or suggestions for improvement with
independent assurance provider in accordance regards to our fourth sustainability report at:
with the International Assurance Standard 3000 sustainability@dewa.gov.ae
(ISAE 3000). In addition, we have positioned
ourselves at the forefront of reporting being part Please note that an electronic version of this
of the GRI Standards Pioneers Program. The report can be found on our website:
Program includes 100 organisations worldwide www.dewa.gov.ae
which immediately adopted the first Global
Standards for Sustainability Reporting launched
by GRI on October 2016, thus demonstrating
high maturity level in sustainability reporting.

SUSTAINABILITY
14 REPORT 2016
DEWA AT A GLANCE

ABOUT DEWA
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is a government owned utility with the sole responsibility
for supplying electricity and water to the Emirate of Dubai. DEWA owns, operates and maintains power
stations and desalination plants, aquifers, power and water transmission lines and power and water
distribution networks in Dubai. Our power generation and water desalination stations are mainly fuelled
by natural gas. We buy gas exclusively from the Dubai Supply Authority (DUSUP), which is responsible
for procuring, transmitting, storing and delivering to end customers all natural gas in the Emirate
of Dubai. DEWA operates as an independent authority regulated by the Dubai Supreme Council of
Energy. The Supreme Council of Energy is responsible for energy policy development, planning and
coordination in Dubai and has broad regulatory powers including the power to set the water and
electricity tariffs charged by DEWA. Although our main business activities are in the production and
supply of electricity and water, we also have a number of other related business interests:
Data Hub Integrated Solutions
Al Etihad Energy Services Co. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
(ETIHAD ESCO) provides buildings DEWA that was formed to provide
energy efficiency services and is fully- Data Center space, Cloud solutions,
owned by DEWA. Managed Business Solutions and
Managed IT services for DEWA
and for external public and private
DEWA owns 70% of Emirates entities.
Central Cooling Systems
provides buildings
Corporation (EMPOWER), a
major provider of district cooling Shuaa Energy 1 was established in
services (DCS) in the region. Its 2015 under the Independent Power
activities include management, Plant (IPP) model to complete the
operation and maintenance of 2nd phase of the Mohammad bin
central cooling plants and related Rashid Solar Park and produce 200
distribution networks. MegaWatts (MW) of solar power. It
belongs 51% to Jumeirah Energy
MAI DUBAI is a water bottling International and 49% to ACWA
factory, fully-owned by DEWA. Power Solar Limited.
The company distributes bottled
water within the UAE and export Shuaa Energy 2 is the new 800MW
markets. solar power plant established in
2016 to complete the 3rd phase
is a water bottling
factory, fully-owned by DEWA. of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Dubai CarbonThe
Centre of distributes bottled
company Maktoum Solar Park and it belongs
Excellence (DCCE) is anthe
water within energy
UAE and export 60% to Shuaa Energy 2 Holdings
projects consultancy with a focus and 40% to Emirates Solar Power
on renewable energy and carbon Company.
credits trading. DEWA has a 36%
Hassyan Energy Phase 1 is the
effective share in the company.
region’s first clean coal IPP. It was
created to provide 2,400 MW
of power to DEWA’s grid and
Ducab High Voltage Cable Systems contribute to Dubai Clean Energy
(DUCAB-HV) manufactures and Strategy 2050 (DCES) target. It is
supply high-voltage cables and was owned 51% by Hassyan Energy
established as a joint venture of Holdings and 49% by ACWA
DUCAB (50%), DEWA (25%) and Power Harbin Holdings Limited.
ADWEA (25%). manufactures and

Jumeirah Energy International,

RWE Power International Middle Shuaa Energy 2 Holdings and
East (RWE PI ME) is an energy Hassyan Energy Holdings are
projects consultancy owned 51% Special Purpose Vehicles owned
by DEWA and 49% by RWE 100% by Jumeirah Energy
Technology, the subsidiary of International Holdings LLC, which
RWE, a leading German electric is DEWA’s arm for investments in
utility. IPPs.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 15

KEY FACTS ABOUT DEWA

11,485
Employees
10,000MW
666,006 Generation capacity
Water customers

470 MIGD
752,505 Production capacity
Electricity customers

HISTORY OF DEWA
The rapid development of Dubai as an expanding port city during the 1950s required a specialised
authority to be responsible for potable water production and power generation. Therefore, the Dubai
Electricity Company and the Dubai Water Department were formed respectively in 1959 and 1961.
The Dubai Electricity Company established its first two generating stations “A” and “B”, between 1961
and 1973, to supply electricity to the inhabitants of Dubai through its modest distribution network.
These stations depended on diesel fuel to run and had a total capacity of 60MW. The early presence
of these electricity and water services, rendered a strong basis for the rapid modernisation of Dubai.
One of the first 360KW Diesel Engine-Alternator sets from “A” station can still be seen in our current
headquarters, in Garhoud, Dubai. In 1992, the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, issued
Decree No. (1) for the institution of Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) as an independent
public authority to be fully owned by the government and responsible for electricity and water
production in Dubai. Since then our generation capacity has expanded to 10,000 Megawatts (MW)
and our water production capacity to 470 Million Imperial Gallons per Day (MIGD), as of the year
2016.

SUSTAINABILITY
16
REPORT 2016
OUR STRATEGY

ABOUT DEWA
Sustainability is the core of DEWA’s strategy, vision and mission. We have continued to work hard to
place sustainability at the heart of our business and embed the concept of sustainability more fully into
everything that we do. Our understanding of sustainability extends beyond our own operations, into
our supply chains, our communities, the wider society and Dubai’s economy. This reflects the views of
our stakeholders, who expect DEWA to lead as a responsible corporate citizen.

Our strategy has evolved to embed the three dimensions of sustainability, economic, social and
environmental goals alongside the financial ones, giving us a fully integrated sustainable business
strategy. We have further increased our focus on creativity and innovation as indicated by the change
of our vision from “A Sustainable World-Class Utility” to “A Sustainable Innovative World-Class Utility”
and the update to our mission statement. Our strategic direction will continue to support the UAE and
Dubai 2021 vision and objectives to ensure and endorse effective implementation of our national and
local strategies.

OUR STRATEGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

At DEWA, our strategy management process is implemented on an annual basis which is broken
down into strategic objectives, corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and initiatives split
across the four perspectives:

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 17
STRATEGIC AMBITIONS INTO 2021

There are five themes in our 2021 strategy through which DEWA will achieve its long-term
sustainability goals:

Sustainable Growth: Our strategy is rooted in reinforcing

sustainability in all of DEWA’s activities. Sustainable growth is our
higher order goal that will allow us to mobilise our capabilities to
contribute to the ambitious local and federal development plans,
conserve our natural capital and ensure our lasting economic
prosperity.

Operational and Smart Service Excellence: By implementing

internationally recognised standards and management systems,
adopting industry-leading practices and continuing to deliver
world-class customer service, we aim to achieve excellence in the
delivery of core services to our customers and stakeholders.

Stakeholder Engagement: Satisfying our stakeholders is a key

enabler of our success as a public utility service provider, which
is why we are moving forward with greater focus on engaging our
different stakeholder groups to understand their needs and
expectations.

Strategic Innovation: In the fast-moving energy and water sector,

our ability to innovate is critical for preparing DEWA and Dubai
for the future. This theme of our strategy will keep us focused on
finding enduring and more appropriate solutions to the current
and future challenges facing our business.

Competent Capabilities and Happy Culture that Fosters

National Identity: Underlying our entire strategy are our people
and capabilities – these are the foundation upon which we will
implement our strategy. We remain committed to investing in our
people and ensuring a happy, safe and productive work
environment to support our business growth and success, while
reinforcing and safeguarding the national identity of the UAE.

SUSTAINABILITY
18 REPORT 2016
STRATEGIC PLANNING APPROACH

ABOUT DEWA
At DEWA, we understand that sustainability is a journey, not a destination. As part of our strategic
planning approach, we conduct thorough research and analysis which provides us with a holistic inside-out
view of our operational context that delivers a sustainable roadmap of the organisation. We examine
major emerging political, social, environmental, technological, legal, industry and market trends as well
as our historical performance to identify our strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. We
consider a number of scenarios based on emerging trends and underlying drivers. We then identify the
strategic implications over the specified time frame. This planning cycle witnessed a major milestone,
the development of DEWA 2021. It charts DEWA’s direction for the next 5 years and describes the
principal initiatives and projects necessary to achieve its mission.

Strategy Stakeholder Engagement

DEWA 2021
STRATEGY

Future Trends Analysis (PESTEL) SWOT Analysis

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 19
DEWA STRATEGY ALIGNMENT

Our strategy and roadmap are aligned to plans and goals at a global, UAE Federal and Dubai Emirate
level.

UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a set of goals to end poverty,

protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable
development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved until 2030.
DEWA firmly believes in the objective of the UN Sustainable Development
Goals and directly supports with clear initiatives six of the 17 goals: Clean
Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and
Infrastructure, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, and
Life Below Water.

UAE VISION 2021 & NATIONAL

AGENDA
The UAE is on a journey to position itself among the leading countries in
the world. This journey will find its climax in the golden jubilee in 2021. To
achieve its Vision 2021, a set of National KPIs grouped in six themes was
developed to track progress.

UAE AND DUBAI INNOVATION

STRATEGY

The Dubai Innovation Strategy focuses on ten sectors that are aligned to the
National Innovation Strategy, and aims to improve living standards in Dubai. For
DEWA, innovation is a priority for improving our services and initiatives, and a key
element for developing our strategies and work plans.

We have incorporated innovation in DEWA’s vision, and created Strategic

Innovation to raise its importance as a theme to encompass 40% of the
DEWA2021 strategy. DEWA has developed a comprehensive Innovation Strategy
and established the Innovation and The Future Department to ensure
implementation. Furthermore, we continue to develop our Innovation and
Research Centre and deliver innovative projects dedicated to the UAE and Dubai
Innovation Strategies. Most recently we became an active partner to the Dubai
Future Accelerators initiative.

SUSTAINABILITY
20 REPORT 2016
 DUBAI PLAN 2021

ABOUT DEWA
Dubai Plan 2021 describes the future of Dubai through holistic and
complementary perspectives that were divided into six themes. Each
highlights a group of KPIs for Dubai that are aligned with DEWA’s
2021 Strategy.

DUBAI GOVERNMENT EXCELLENCE

PROGRAM (DGEP)
DGEP creates an environment that encourages government organisations
to adopt excellence and innovation, respond to the challenges and
enhance performance. Towards that, DEWA provides world-class
government services and adopts international best practices. In 2016,
DEWA won 6 awards during the 19th DGEP ceremony, including the
“Distinguished Government Entity” category.

UAE AND DUBAI HAPPINESS

The UAE launched the visionary ambition of becoming the happiest country
in the world. The Happiness ambition is reflected both in the UAE Vision
2021 as well as Dubai 2021 Plan. DEWA is among the first government
organisations to apply the Happiness Meter launched by HH Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of
the UAE and Ruler of Dubai by launching a set of eight initiatives.

SMART DUBAI
Smart Dubai is a strategy for transforming Dubai into the smartest city
in the world before Expo 2020. It includes 100 initiatives transforming
1,000 government services into smart services. DEWA as a key
stakeholder actively participated in the development of Dubai’s Smart
City vision and has launched three Smart initiatives: “Shams Dubai”,
Smart Applications via Smart Meters and Grids, and Infrastructure and
Electrical Vehicles Charging Stations.

DUBAI CLEAN ENERGY STRATEGY 2050

& DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy (DCES) 2050 sets targets for 7% Clean Energy
in the generation mix by 2020, 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050, while the Demand
Side Management Strategy aims to reduce energy and water demand by 30% by
2030. DEWA plays an essential role in achieving these goals by reinforcing the
renewable energy sector and fuel diversification to meet the objectives of the DCES
2050, which maps out Dubai’s energy sector over the next three decades.

DUBAI CARBON ABATEMENT STRATEGY 2021

This strategy sets the course of actions to be adopted by Dubai Government
in order to manage Dubai’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions until 2021. The
Carbon Abatement Strategy aims to reduce carbon emissions by 16% by 2021.
DEWA covers power and water contributing to overall reduction target by 8%
in 2021, equivalent of 5.15 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 21
YEAR OF READING

Arab Reading Challenge

Mother and child reading DEWA Reads It is an interactive session, organised by DEWA, to 

encourage Arab students to read and summarise books.
It is a competition that aims to 
Sessions organised between DEWA employees 
encourage and motivate staff and 
and their children in DEWA’s kindergartens, to 
their families to read.
instill values of reading in childre n

nt 
Knowledge Ship (new initiative)

e
res
20

2017
It is a state­of­the­art library which includes 

15

­ P
the latest technologies related to books 

 ­ P
Number of beneficiaries

15 
and librarires, where the books travel 

re
(278) through the Dubai Water Canal. The 

20
se
Reading Tree initiative encourages reading, in innovative  Number of students

17
n
20 ways, between members of the society.

t 
(112)

20
A tree that produces a number of  16
Number of borrowed books books among staff offices to   ­ P
provide a stimulating environment  re Cognitive Reading Approach 
(347) se Number of hours
for reading in innovative ways nt  t  Knowledge and information is  (640)
en
Dubai 
es
taught to students of DEWA 

­ Pr Academy. It aims to encourage 
Reading is Positive Energy Exhibition 13  knowledge through reading.
Teaching stages

Electricity and 

2016 20
 ­ Pr (12,11,10)
A permanent reading exhibition, organised in  esen
Zabeel Park, which includes a large number of  t 

Water 

reading activities throughout the year

Number of 

Authority 

t 
Number of sessions knowledge centres
en
es 201
(48) (4)

 ­ Pr 2 ­ P
Participate for an Hour  16 res

(DEWA)’s 

20 e nt  Number of
Number of speakers (knowledge volunteering) DEWA Knowledge Centres  borrowed books
(48) (4,702)

Agenda
It is an hour dedicated to reading a  The allocation of spaces for libraries, 
book and engaging staff to discuss it at DEWA branches, to create a reading 
environment equipped with the latest 
Number of attendees 17 technologies.
20
Number of books

20
(807) (11,000)

17
1001 Readers
Innovative Cognitive Laboratories for
 
It supports employees and their families to 
Generations to Come (new initiative)

20

participate in community­based reading initiatives, 
17
t 

organised by government institutions 20
n

Smart libraries for several private schools aiming to 
14
se

 ­ P make future generations contribute to 
re

res transforming knowledge into concrete inventions.
 ­ P

en
t 
15

Number of participants
Smart Libraries
20

(132) Number of digital books
(more than 8,000) It is a digital library that is available to all 
DEWA’s, 24 hours per day, allowing 
Number of books donated Knowledge and Reading Open Day employees to utilise it inside and outside 
DEWA Book (new initiative) Number of books
Number of users
(127 ) An open day for DEWA staff to encourage  5,782
DEWA premises. An initiative aimed to encourage and motivate talented  (40)
reading and knowledge culture staff in the field of writing.
Number of events
(8)

DEWA is committed to its role as a socially-responsible government organisation that is not only limited to
its electricity and water services but also establishing a knowledge environment that promotes passion
for culture, reading, and knowledge in society. This is part of DEWA’s efforts to support the directives
of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, who declared 2016 as the Year of
Reading. DEWA strives to achieve the vision of the country’s leaders to build a community of readers
and a knowledge-based economy in the UAE. We realise the importance and impact of reading on
peoples lives. Since the beginning of 2010, a department has been dedicated in DEWA’s organisational
structure to manage knowledge and reading activities. DEWA is one of the pioneering organisations
to dedicate a department for knowledge management as an independent unit concerned with the
implementation of reading and knowledge initiatives.
Furthermore, DEWA has developed a policy for knowledge management and related strategies and
approaches in line with the strategic initiative of Dubai Government in order to be a sustainable
educational organisation. DEWA also adopted the legislative procedures of the National Reading Law
to make reading an integral part of our work as a government organisation.
In 2016, DEWA institutionalised reading through 14 initiatives targeting 11,000 employees. DEWA’s
reading agenda includes many integrated programmes and initiatives that work in parallel to promote
reading over the next 10 years and make it a lifestyle and a daily habit among staff and their families.
Some of these initiatives include knowledge sharing and Innovative Knowledge Labs for Future
Generations, which have been developed in cooperation with multiple concerned organisations in the
UAE.

SUSTAINABILITY
22 REPORT 2016
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

ABOUT DEWA
We are dedicated to conducting business in an ethical manner ensuring that accountability, fairness
and transparency determine our relationships with all our stakeholders. We constantly seek to establish
and maintain trust as well as act with integrity in everything we do, by adopting world-class standards
of corporate governance and decision making. Taking into account all of these factors, we have adopted
and implemented a Corporate Governance structure which provides us with a framework of principles
and procedures with regards to stakeholder management, internal audits, and risk management, while
promoting an ethical culture among our employees.

We have a Code of Conduct that sets forth the standards for conducting our day-to-day activities and
decision making procedures. DEWA’s top and senior management are bound to act as role models for
all employees by leading the way and adhering to the Code of Conduct.

In 2008, we created a Corporate Governance Manual which provides a set of procedures, principles and
standards in relation to matters such as DEWA’s corporate structure, accountability and delegation
of authority, internal audit, and establishment of management committees, risk management, internal
and external reporting, social responsibility and retention of records. The manual also incorporates
policies and procedures to protect against unlawful practices and corruption, including the acceptance
of gifts and bribes, and enforces strict compliance of all employees.

OUR VALUES
We have defined corporate values that represent what we stand for and how we interact among
ourselves and with others. These corporate values are reflected in our Code of Conduct, which is shared
with all staff in their staff handbook upon joining, and is also accessible through our internal portal. The
importance of applying our values in practice is frequently emphasised by senior management as we
firmly believe in leading by example. This informal way of encouraging staff to behave professionally is
further supported by formal communications and feedback systems. These enable our people to voice
their opinions and provide feedback related to breaches of the Code of Conduct, the work environment
and customer service, among others.

Stakeholders Sustainability Innovation Excellence Good

Happiness Governance

We commit to We commit to We commit to We commit to We commit to

continuously exert deliver value to continuously continuously be abide by UAE
our best effort our stakeholders develop and in a journey of laws and preserve
and dedicate the while balancing seek new trends excellence that the highest levels
right and adequate environmental, social and realise our drives continuous of transparency,
resources to foresee, and economic impacts stakeholders’ improvement integrity, fairness,
analyse, deliver and act responsibly ideas which towards involvement,
and exceed our towards long-term create new public implementing best effectiveness and
stakeholders’ needs preservation of values through in class efficiency accountability in
and expectations resources for our an agile approach and effectiveness our dealings and
to surpass their future generations. that appreciates practices delivering value delivery to
satisfaction towards risk and rewards sustainable results our stakeholders.
their happiness. principles. to our stakeholders
on all fronts.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 23
DEWA’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors of DEWA monitors all of our corporate activities, serving as the top decision-
making body. The fundamental roles of the Board are to ratify DEWA’s annual budget, approve electricity
and water supply services, authorise and enter into agreements with external parties. The Board
furthermore approves administrative, financial and technical affairs and issues governing regulations.
As the Dubai Government is DEWA’s sole owner, the Board and the Managing Director & CEO are
appointed directly by government decree. The current Board was appointed in 2015 and consists of 9
members. Matar Humaid Al Tayer currently serves as Chairman of the Board, while Saeed Mohammed
Ahmad Al Tayer is DEWA’s Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board.

Chairman of
the Board Matar Humaid Al Tayer

Managing Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer

Director & CEO

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer

Hilal Khalfan Bin Dhaher
Abdulla Al Sayed Mohammad Al Hashemi
Khalfan Ahmad Harib
Members
Majid Hamad Al Shamsi
Obeid Saeed Bin Meshar
Saeed Mohammad Al Sharid
Nabil Abdul Rahman Arif

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

DEWA’s Governance structure encompasses Corporate Governance, Internal Governance, Information

Technology (IT) Governance, Project Governance, Sustainability Governance and the Governance structure
for the 4th Industrial Revolution. There is an organisation wide governance matrix. The DEWA Board
functions very cohesively and in case of matters requiring more analysis that what can be discussed at
a full board, a sub-committee is formed with the purpose to examine the matter in detail and advise the
full board. Various topics such as DEWA’s financial budgets, etc; are assigned to sub-committees rather
than the nine members discussing the matter together. The allocation of important subjects to sub groups
within the Board enables specialised analysis of Board subjects and expert ideation. The Board and its
committees can draw upon the advice of experts on any subject from both within DEWA and also from any
external resource.
SUSTAINABILITY
24 REPORT 2016
DEWA ORGANISATIONAL CHART

ABOUT DEWA
DEWA operates through both primary and supportive specialised divisions, and each sector includes its
own organisational departments, sections and units that manage the sector’s operations in accordance
with key performance indicators and plans which support DEWA in delivering its services competently
and efficiently.

MD & CEO

Technical
Finance
Advisors
CFO

Strategy & Business

Internal Audit
Development
EVP VP

Marketing & Corp

Legal Affairs
Communication
VP CLA

Power & Water Generation Transmission Distribution Customer Business Support &
Happiness Water & Civil Innovation & The Future
Planning (P&W) Power Power Human Resources
EVP EVP EVP EVP EVP EVP EVP EVP

Power Projects & Civil P&E Human

Transmission Plant 1 Transmission Customer Information
Engineering Happiness and Water Commercial Resources
Planning (D, E & G) Operation Maintenance Technology
(Distribution) Innovation
VP VP VP VP VP VP VP VP CIO
CINO
Distribution Plant 2 Operation Distribution Billing Water Personnel
Planning Technology Maintenance Administration Management Applications
(K,L & M) Services Operation
Process
VP VP VP VP VP SM SM SM SM Improvement
DIR
Water Plant 3 Aweer, Talent
Transmission Transmission Distribution Water P&E and Projects
Palaces & Maintenance Operations New Connection Contracts Acquisition
Planning Solar Plants & KAM Infprmation
SM VP VP SM SM Security
VP VP SM
CISO
Generation
& Diesel Mechanical Transmission Connection Quality & Talent
Commissioning Services Water SCADA Stakeholders
Management Infrastructure
Planning Maintenance Happiness Monitoring The
Future
SM VP VP VP SM SM SM SM
CFuO
Demand Distribution
& Tariff Production Transmission Metering & Learning & Operations &
Planning Asset Equipment Development
Management Protection Management IT Support
SM VP VP VP SM SM SM

Comissioning Transmission Employees GIS & Field

& NOC Engineering Happiness Application
SM VP SM SM/DSM

Administration Transmission Compensation Business Process

Fire & Security Projects & Benefits Improvement
SM VP SM SM
Infrastructure DEWA
DEWA Information Smart
Central Lab Academy Services
& Permits
SM SM DIR SM

Projects & Smart Tech &

Engineering(G) Business
Intelligence
VP SM

Information
Security
SM

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 25
COMMITTEES
The Management team is supported in its activities by a range of other committees, which consist of
either Management team members or other individuals from DEWA’s divisions. There are a number
of other committees in DEWA such as the Grievance Committee, Personnel Committee, Women’s
Committee, DEWA Youth Committee, Investment Committee, Tender Opening Committee, Local
Purchase Committee, Corporate Risk Management Committee, “Takaful” and “Theqa” Committee, Admin
Violation Committee, Scrap Verification Committee, Liquidated Damage Committee, DEWA Excellence
Award Committee, Crisis Management Committee, Operation Committee, Engineering Committee,
Enterprise Risk Management Committee, HSE Committee, Corporate Governance Committee, Cyber
Security Emergency Response Committee and others.

BUSINESS RESILIENCE
The nature of our operations and environment require some level of risk-planning in order to achieve
our strategic objectives. DEWA is committed to adopt, embed and sustain risk management as a core
competency and strategic decision making tool throughout our organisation. DEWA adopts three
plans that create a clear communication platform and resilient framework that guides all DEWA’s divisions
to study, manage and mitigate risks.

Enterprise Risk Business Continuity Crisis Management

Management Management

Enterprise Risk Management

The Enterprise Risk Management Policy and Framework enables a formal, structured approach to
Enterprise Risk Management that is appropriate to DEWA’s activities and operating environment.
The overall approach being consistent and compliant with the principles and guidelines set out in
ISO 31000; the International Standard on risk management. ISO 31000 recommends a 7-step Risk
Management Process which is deployed at corporate level and across all DEWA Divisions. In line
with this Risk Management Process, 15 Corporate and Strategic risks have been identified which
are considered the top risks facing DEWA. These risks are mapped to DEWA’s Strategic Objectives
and assigned Risk Owners. Progress on the status of mitigation strategy implementation for the
top Corporate and Strategic risks facing DEWA are reported to the Enterprise Risk Management
Committee (ERMC) twice annually.

SUSTAINABILITY
26 REPORT 2016
 ABOUT DEWA
Establish the Context
Communication and Consultation

Risk Assessment

Monitoring and Review

Risk Identification

Risk Analysis

Risk Evaluation

Risk Treatment

ISO 31000 Risk Management Process

Business Continuity Management

Our Business Continuity Management System (BCM) identifies critical processes and impacts on
our operations that help develop strategies to effectively deal with uncertainty and associated risks.
The critical event risks on our operations are determined during the Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
questionnaire that reveals any critical enablers to our organisation. The BIA is the foundation of our
Business Continuity Plan(BCP) that helps identify our organisation’s critical processes and recovery
time objective. We have a dedicated BCP for each division at DEWA. This provides a clear resilient
communication platform that is capable of effective response during emergencies. Each division also
conducts a mock drill or a live test annually to test the plan effectiveness, changes to the system and
to identify gaps as part of our emergency plan testing.

As part of our inclusive risk-aware culture, we ensure that our key stakeholders are well informed and
aware of our BCM at DEWA by conducting internal awareness sessions to all DEWA employees. We
also offer an in-depth training, the ISO 22301:2012 lead implementer training to our employees with
key roles in Business Continuity Management System (BCMS). DEWA adheres and abide all laws,
regulations and requirements that applies to the BCM standard on a national and international level.

DEWA is compliant with NCEMA 7000:2015 - UAE business continuity standard, the external party
supervising the BCM in government entities. Furthermore, DEWA has successfully achieved the
ISO 22301: 2012 BCM certificate in 2016.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 27

Crisis Management
Our Crisis Management Plans clearly identify causes, consequences, preventive measures, corrective
measures, and implementation status. We have also developed contingency plans to mitigate the
consequences in case of occurrence of a number of scenarios such as the occurrence of an oil slick,
red tide event, etc. Periodic audits and mock drills are conducted to test and improve performance of
operation staff to handle these scenarios.

OUR SUPPLY CHAIN

At DEWA, we understand that our overall environmental and social impacts extend beyond our own
direct operations. Therefore, we have implemented a Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) system,
which allows us to establish and maintain long term relationships with our suppliers and improve
the quality of services and value to our supply chain. Our suppliers are classified into 3 categories:
“strategic”(54), “core”(885), and “basic”(2,585). During 2016, we worked with a total of 2,457 active
suppliers. We consistently strive to involve local businesses in our operations and supply chain, which
helps build capacity locally and fosters economic growth in Dubai which is our significant location of
operations and the wider region. To increase our utilisation of local products and services, DEWA has
established a Local Purchase Committee. The committee defines the criteria that has to be met before
purchasing local products and services. In 2016, DEWA’s purchases from local suppliers included a net
order of AED 17.76 million with 70 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In this report we define
local suppliers as SMEs registered in Dubai.

We aim to roll out our Green Procurement Programme throughout our supply chain. The programme
aims to assess the environmental consequences of the products purchased by DEWA at the various
stages of the product’s lifecycle to help us avoid selecting products with adverse environmental impacts.
We are also interested in purchasing products that reduce energy, contain recycled materials, are less
toxic, and can help conserve water or address social impacts. At DEWA, we are committed to business
practices that adhere to international standards. To reduce vulnerability and ensure continuity of our
key suppliers, DEWA has developed a Supply Chain Risk Management Framework, in line with
ISO 31000, which identifies and analyses exceptional risks along our supply chain based on continuous
risk assessment.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS ALONG THE VALUE CHAIN

Partnerships have been a fundamental pillar to the success of our organisation in service delivery,
achieving strategic objectives and contributing to the implementation of our strategic plan. DEWA
engages in strategic relationships with suppliers, customers and other business partners, including
through Joint Ventures. Such strategic partnerships help reduce transaction costs by building trust,
enabling economies of scale, supporting risk management and fostering the exchange of knowledge,
technology and best practices. DEWA has around 125 joint projects with its partners.
DEWA categorises its partners as either strategic or main based on their degree of importance and
the intensity of their impact on DEWA. Through our dedicated Partnership Portal, we have further
enhanced and strengthened relationships with our partners, while achieving integration with other
government organisations within the UAE. Our partner’s happiness rate increased by 4% comparing
to 2015, this is reflected by continuously engaging with our partners through a number of workshops
organised annually.
Each year, we ensure to establish partnerships with new businesses, academic institutions and other
organisations to further promote DEWA’s economic, social and environmental responsibility and
operations.

SUSTAINABILITY
28 REPORT 2016
 ABOUT DEWA
WORLD-CLASS PERFORMANCE
Our financial strategy is to optimise costs and investments, provide a reasonable return to our sole
owner the Government of Dubai and to ensure long-term financial sustainability for DEWA.

Product cost effectively with

minimal waste and resource
Available at use
all times

WORLD-CLASS
MARKET
PERFORMANCE

No unexpected
interruptions to supply

Safe and
high quality

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
Long-term financial sustainability will enable DEWA to play a key role to achieve the goals of the UAE
Vision 2021 and the Dubai Plan 2021. This vision aims to diversify the UAE economy away from oil
and gas-related GDP growth, improve the business environment, attract Foreign Direct Investment,
invest in innovation and knowledge, promote green economy and substantially increase the proportion
of Emiratis in the workforce. DEWA makes significant investments annually to build a world-class
utility infrastructure and strives to position Dubai as a smart city of the future and the world capital
of the green economy. In addition, DEWA has established subsidiaries / joint ventures / public-private
partnerships in related business to diversify its revenue streams. It has achieved spectacular success
in attracting international investment into Dubai through the IPP model and built highly efficient
solar PV plants, thereby significantly contributing to renewable energy generation and consequent
emissions reduction. The investment grade BBB+ Rating from S&P with stable outlook recognises
DEWA’s outstanding performance, adoption of global best practice and its role as a key enabler of
government’s strategy to achieve economic growth and energy sustainability.

DEWA 2016 FINANCIAL DATA

10,955 21,193
8.94% 15.6%
AED Million AED Million
Capital expenditure Return on Equity Total revenue Debt: Equity
ROE

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 29
PATHWAY TO EXCELLENCE

DEWA won 6 awards during the 19th Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP). DGEP was
launched in 1997 by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister
of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to enable the government sector to actively manage the challenges
faced by this new era and be the driving force behind the development of the public sector in Dubai. The
DGEP develops, trains and assess the performance of the government organisations while complying
with the best international practices, successful experiences and professional excellence standards.

DEWA’s winning reinforces its vision to be a sustainable innovative world-class utility. We have received
awards in the categories of Distinguished Government Entity, Financially Distinguished Performance,
Distinguished Entity in Government Communications, Distinguished Creative Idea, Distinguished
Technical/Engineering Employee, and the Unknown Soldier award.

DGEP creates an environment that encourages government organisations to adopt excellence and
innovation. Towards that goal, DEWA provides world-class government services and adopts the best
international practices, to make people as happy as possible. Innovation plays a major role in our daily
operations to further develop our performance, and the efficiency of our services, while adhering to the

highest international standards. DEWA will continue to achieve success with its ambitious initiatives,
project development, and ongoing efforts to be at the forefront by adopting the highest international
standards, in line with its vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility.

We in the UAE share one direction, one vision and one goal. We all work for the

“
interest of our country. Excellence has become an approach and a way of life for us.
HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

SUSTAINABILITY
30 REPORT 2016
CASE STUDY:

ABOUT DEWA
CORPORATE FINANCE DEAL OF THE YEAR

In line with the wise vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and
Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai a global Centre for clean energy and
green economy, and as part of its plans to fulfill Dubai’s Clean Energy Strategy 2050, DEWA decided
to innovate its business model in partnership with the private sector. Accordingly, an Independent
Power Producer (IPP) was hired to establish Phase-II (200MW) of “Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park”:
the largest single-site strategic solar energy project of its kind in the world, with planned production
capacity of 5,000MW by 2030.
Managed by an experienced and dedicated cross-functional team, who meticulously worked through
the complex, year-long tendering process with the help of renowned international consultants, DEWA
succeeded in attaining the Lowest Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) world-wide (US Cents 5.62/
kWh); which has been reduced further to (US Cents 2.99/kWh) in Phase-III of the Project (800MW).
Moreover, this “win-win” partnership was designed in a way that not only ensures shared project
returns, but also reduced the required capital investment by 92% and ensured bankability at lowest
rates in the region.
In addition to the aforementioned key success factors, this deal contributed to tremendous benefits
including, but not limited to:
• Placement of Dubai at the forefront of the global solar industry.
• Contribution to Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 (calling for 75% Clean Energy) and Dubai’s
CO2 reduction target of 16% by 2021.
• Avoidance of additional cost burden to customers.
• Generation of skilled job opportunities with in-built Emiratisation regulation.
As an acknowledgement of DEWA’s great efforts and achievements throughout this deal, DEWA was
the 1st Government Department in the Middle East to win the “Corporate Finance Deal of the Year”
under the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Middle East Accountancy
and Finance Excellence Award.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 31
SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

MANAGEMENT APPROACH

DEWA has always been proactive in aligning its strategic plan and operating model with the latest
industry and market trends as well as local and federal plans and strategies such as: the Dubai Clean
Energy Strategy 2050, the UAE National Agenda 2021, Dubai Plan 2021, the National Innovation
Strategy and, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s initiative, “A Green Economy for
Sustainable Development”. This commitment will lead to the long-term success of our organisation
and ultimately the prosperity of Dubai.
Acknowledging the immense impact of our organisation on the achievements of the national and local
development plans, we undertake all necessary steps towards making DEWA an industry leader by creating
an equilibrium between our financial results, environmental performance, and our commitment to the
wellbeing of the community of Dubai and the UAE, thus creating sustainable value for all.

At DEWA, Emiratisation is one of our vital strategic objectives. It not only contributes to the economic

and social security of the UAE but also forms an integral part of the community role by both public and

private sectors towards achieving the strategic objectives of the Government of Dubai.

As one of Dubai’s largest employers, we are committed to supporting and advancing the sustainable

development of the UAE and therefore increase participation of Emirati nationals in this endeavour.

In 2016, approximately 85.23% of our top management and leadership positions were held by UAE
nationals. DEWA recruits, trains, and integrates UAE nationals at all levels of our organisation in an
effort to enhance Emirati skills and knowledge along the way and ensure their continuous development.

ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANISATIONS
DEWA is part of various national organisations, councils and committees that lead to fruitful
partnerships in the energy and industrial sectors. These collaborations aim to further ensure best
sustainability practices. These organisations include but are not limited to:

The Executive Council The Dubai Supreme Council The Dubai Integrated
of Dubai of Energy Gas Strategy 2030

The Dubai Nuclear The Dubai Infrastructure The Carbon Abatement

Energy Committee Committee Strategy Committee

WORLD GREEN ECONOMY ORGANISATION

The World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO) was launched in Dubai on 5th October 2016, at the
World Green Economy Summit by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and
Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). WGEO is a solution-oriented organisation enabling green economy
projects globally, and supporting entrepreneurs in achieving their green business goals, particularly
in emerging markets. WGEO partners with UNDP and its development and knowledge network of
132 country offices and five regional centres, covering 177 countries. WGEO is chaired by HE Saeed
Mohammed Al Tayer.

Following the commitments of the Paris Agreement and the central role of the multistakeholder

partnership in contributing to green economic development and addressing climate change implications,

the objectives of WGEO are to become a source of innovation, technology and finance for achieving
progress on low-carbon, climate-resilience economy, energy efficiency, and the sustainable use

SUSTAINABILITY
34 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
of water and natural resources. WGEO is the first international organisation to reflect a new partnership
between governments, private sector, civil society, finance, academia and youth.

SUSTAINABILITY GOVERNANCE
The Sustainability Leading Team (SLT) has been established in DEWA since 2013. The members
of the SLT are composed of representatives from every division in DEWA. Their role complements
the Climate Change & Sustainability (CC&S) team in raising awareness about the importance of
Sustainability, the effects of Climate Change and our mega projects in Sustainability. These awareness
sessions are conducted by the SLT members with their employees. In 2016, there were more than 90
awareness sessions provided to approximately more than 2,000 employees. The SLTs also support the
CC&S team in different sustainability projects to ensure the smooth flow of ensuring sustainability
governance within the organisation. The SLT is chaired by the Climate Change and Sustainability
Senior Manager, under the Strategy & Business Development Division. The DEWA management team
receives updates regarding sustainability issues from the Executive Vice-President of Strategy and
Business Development, who is also a member of DEWA’s management team.

2016 SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

3.3%
8% water line electricity line losses 85% of top management and
losses leadership positions held by UAE
nationals
3.28 Customer
Minutes Lost 25% renewables generation
capacity will be achieved by 2030,
expanding to 75% by 2050

Cumulative efficiency
improvement of 25.47%
between 2006 and 2016

37.5 million tons CO2

emissions reduction
between 2006 and
2016

Awarded British Safety Council

Sword of Honour in Health
and Safety for the ninth year
since 2007

Awarded British Safety Council

Globe of Honour for environment
for the fifth consecutive year
1st in MENA, and 4th internationally , World Bank’s
ranking of the UAE (represented by DEWA) for
“ease of access” to electricity in the World Bank
Doing Business Report 2017, for the Report 2017,
for the fourth consecutive year

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 35
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

At DEWA, we cherish our stakeholders, and ensure that they have the maximum level of satisfaction
starting from the employees we work with and ending with our customers, government, society,
suppliers and partners. Our stakeholders include group of individuals, or institutions that contribute
vitally in achieving DEWA’s mission. Therefore, we ensure that our stakeholder’s happiness is set
through the core strategy in terms of providing reliable electricity and water infrastructure that is
needed to ensure sustainable economic growth in Dubai.
There are different channels that we aim to connect with our stakeholders and those include satisfaction
surveys and road-shows, joint ventures and collaboration with government authorities on regulatory
priorities as described throughout this report. To ensure the effective communications, these channels
occur on regular basis.

Through our stakeholder management framework, we aim to identify the methods of delivering the
best and most inclusive engagement to ensure valuable outcomes, in alignment with the principles of
both the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard 2015 and the Global Reporting Initiatives’
Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

Our key strategic objectives relating to our stakeholders include:

Organising stakeholder engagement workshops for our key stakeholder groups

Defining a compelling, overarching value proposition for each of our stakeholders

Managing and responding to stakeholders’ needs and expectations

Seeking new opportunities through multi-stakeholder partnerships to advance sustainable development

Establishing community based initiatives that benefit Dubai and the UAE

SUSTAINABILITY
36 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
DEWA STAKEHOLDERS 2016

DEWA’s stakeholders have been identified through a stakeholder prioritisation exercise, ranking them
in terms of “power” and the “interest” of each one in DEWA’s activities. The Strategy Department is
responsible for reviewing the list on an annual basis and updating it if necessary as well as ensuring
that DEWA’s strategic plan includes prioritised stakeholder groups’ needs and expectations.

Stakeholder Groups
Stakeholder Sub-Groups

Government Federal, Local

Employees Board, Top Management, Middle Management,

Non Supervisory, Other
Society and Future General Public, Environmental Entities, Media and
Generation Opinion Leaders
Partners Strategic Partners, Main Partners

Customers Contractors, Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Others

Suppliers Strategic, Core, Basic

Providers of Capital/ Institutional investors both local and foreign, banks, financial
Investors services, solar manufacturers

DEWA STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Inform Awareness sessions Student visits Corporate strategy

(One way process of providing Marketing capaigns Incentive programes presentation sessions
information to stakeholder) Media events Road shows

Consult Satisfaction Surveys for all Topic specific surveys

(Stakeholder asking questions and Stakeholder groups Direct customer feedback
organisation providing answers) Written and verbal communications Supervisor interaction

Involve One on one meetings Various programmes

(Two way engagement & learning but Supplier engagement Customer suggestion schemes
stakeholders act independently) Seminars Mystery shoppers

Collaborate Sustainability stakeholder workshops

(Joint learning, decision making Joint ventures
and actions) Public Private Partnerships

Empower Actively supporting government

(Stakeholders play a role in policy & regulation
governance)

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 37
STAKEHOLDER NEEDS & EXPECTATIONS
At DEWA, we aim to adopt both a consistent and transparent approach when engaging with our
stakeholders. Therefore, we engage with our stakeholder groups in a variety of ways. For every category
of stakeholder, the following table shows the most important needs expressed during our engagement
activities.

Stakeholder Category Needs & Expectations

SUSTAINABILITY
38
REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
STAKEHOLDER HAPPINESS

Our annual Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey addresses our stakeholder’s expectations regarding several
issues related to both DEWA and each respective stakeholder group.
Since sustainability is embedded in DEWA’s vision, mission, motto, and corporate values, it is vital that
we ensure the effectiveness of our awareness around sustainability practices. Therefore, DEWA has
developed sustainability related questions in each of our respective stakeholder surveys to assess its
effectiveness.
The results of our 2016 stakeholder satisfaction survey reveal that the majority of our stakeholders
were highly satisfied with our sustainability performance while the majority of our suppliers are ready
to promote more environmentally friendly products as a result of DEWA’s focus to manage and improve
sustainability performance throughout its supply chain.

STAKEHOLDER SUSTAINABILITY SATISFACTION

SURVEY 2016

I am satisfied with DEWA’s overall

sustainability performance
I am ready to supply more sustainable
and environmentally friendly
83.99% Society (Community) products services to DEWA
86.96% Society (Business)
89.71% Government 84.72% Suppliers
83.35% Suppliers
85.32% Customers
88.06% Partners
I am aware of DEWA’s sustainability
90% Investors performance and initiatives
84.26% Employees
82% Employees

66% Customers

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 39
SUSTAINABILITY CULTURE INDICATOR

In an effort to further track our progress in embedding sustainability in our organisational culture
and evaluate the effectiveness of our various engagement activities, DEWA utilises the Sustainability
Culture Indicator (SCI). The SCI is a third-party produced employee survey, which measures the extent
to which sustainability has been embedded within the culture of an organisation, including factors
that measure organisational enablers, individual enablers and behaviours inside and outside the
organisation.
According to the results in 2015, which emerged from the participation of over 2,000 of our employees,
DEWA’s effort with regards to sustainability was rated 5.1 out of 6 (equivalent to 85%), exceeding the
average of all other organisations who have completed the SCI.

In 2016, for the third consecutive year, we have utilised the Sustainability Culture Indicator in an

effort to further track DEWA’s progress in embedding sustainability in our organisational culture and

evaluate the effectiveness of our various engagement activities.

According to the results, DEWA‘s effort with regards to sustainability was rated 5.32 out of 6 (equivalent

to 88.6%), exceeding the average of all other organisations who have completed the SCI (62%).

The following main areas of strength have been identified for DEWA:

Positive view that DEWA is

innovative towards High sense of personal
sustainability commitment to sustainability
and ability to make a
difference

Effectiveness of recent
Strong perception of
training and engagement
leadership and strategic
efforts. Attendees of
commitment for sustainability
sustainability training scored
consistently above non-
attendees across all enablers

Scores for all enablers of

sustainability exceeded those Appetite for further
of other organisations, and sustainability education
most exceeded the 2015 and raising awareness
survey

Over the years it has become evident that DEWA’s employees have more knowledge about sustainability
and that they are actually practicing it inside and outside work. For 2016, we had more than 3,000
employees participating compared to 2014 where they were approximately 400 employees. The
knowledge has increased as a result of the intensive awareness campaigns conducted by the Climate
Change & Sustainability team throughout 2016 with the valuable support of the Sustainability Leading
Team members.
SUSTAINABILITY
40 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OUR COMMITMENTS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

At DEWA, we are committed to improving our sustainability performance and therefore we have set
the following commitments for sustainable development:

• To ensure sustainability is fully embedded into our business strategy.

• To ensure our constant alignment with national and international strategies and best practices.
• To increase our direct and indirect economic contribution to the Dubai economy.
• To maintain world-class standards of quality, reliability, efficiency, availability of electricity and
water supply for Dubai.
• To invest and develop renewable energy technologies.
• To continue to improve our stakeholders’ happiness.
• To minimise our environmental footprint and ensure that our operations satisfy all environmental
regulatory controls.
• To increase Solar capacity to 7% by 2020 and 25% by 2030.
• To contribute to Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy that targets the reduction of CO2 emissions
by 16% in 2021.
• To improve water efficiency within our production and distribution networks.
• To reduce our employee turnover rate and increase the proportion of UAE nationals in our workforce.
• To fully integrate green procurement into DEWA’s entire supply chain.
• To further implement new CSR projects to create shared value and assess the social impact.
• To contribute to Dubai’s Smart City Initiatives.

DEWA’S STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP

ON SUSTAINABILITY
Stakeholder Engagement is vital in our approach to sustainability and a cornerstone in DEWA’s
Corporate Sustainability Programme. For the year 2016, the Climate Change and Sustainability
Department used as a platform the Creativity Labs organised by the Strategy Department. Engaging
with our stakeholders is essential for understanding their expectations, needs and concerns.
Throughout the sustainability sessions, we invited stakeholders’ feedback on our sustainability report.
We discussed their concerns and expectations and we finally ranked each topic on its importance to
them. Our stakeholders’ feedback was utilised as a basis for the 2016 materiality process and has also
been acknowledged in decisions about the review of the annual corporate strategy planning.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 41
MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT
One of the fundamental guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative is the concept of materiality.
An organisation is required to report on those matters which have the most significant economic,
environmental and social impact, or those matters viewed as most significant by its internal and
external stakeholders. Within this context, and in order to ensure that we have identified the topics
that affect our stakeholders, we have conducted a materiality analysis in line with the GRI G4 Standards
framework. Materiality is the process of identifying the most important sustainability topics for DEWA.
It helps us identify and prioritise the topics we should focus on in our strategies and programmes and
report on in this edition of our Report. In selecting and ranking our material topics, we have used a
detailed procedure based on the principles of relativity, importance, and ranking, as seen below:

Determination and understanding of the topics deemed significant to our stakeholders,

Step through a process of research and focus groups made up of employees, government,
01 society, suppliers, partners and customers, through benchmarking in the electric utilities
sector, and through alignment with UAE Federal and Dubai Emirate sustainable
development objectives.

Identification and understanding of significant topics, as these arise from the corporate strategy of
Step DEWA, through internal procedures. For topics which can be measured in quantitative terms, such as
02 greenhouse gas emissions, there are recognised methods of determining their materiality. For topics of
a qualitative nature, various methods were used to assess their materiality, with the involvement of
stakeholders and also through a benchmarking process.

Bringing together of the results into a matrix, an evaluation of each topic was conducted on the
Step basis of its social, environmental and economic impact. Each topic was evaluated and given a
materiality ranking in accor dance with its importance to our stakeholders and to our organisation.
03 Subsequently, the final materiality matrix was reviewed and approved by DEWA’s Senior
Management, with the topics located in the top right corner of the matrix regarded as the most
material.

Step Subsequently, the Report included all topics with the highest level of materiality. Topics of less
04 materiality are mentioned only if they are affected by or dependent on topics of greater materiality.

Step The topics included were checked for completeness, relativity and balance by an external assurance
05 company.

The results of our 2016 materiality assessment process are illustrated in the materiality matrix below.
This shows the relative importance of each topic for DEWA’s performance and for our stakeholders.
The boundaries for each material aspect can be found in Appendix 1.

SUSTAINABILITY
42 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
10.0

9.5
4
9.0
10
25
8.5 9
22
5 12 8 18
6 23
19 24
8.0 7
13 16 27 1
Stakeholders

14
21
7.5 28
3 17
15
26
2
20
7.0 11

6.5

6.0

5.5

5.0
5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0
DEWA

Material Topics

Social

* Non - Material topics

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 43
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

In line with its vision to be a sustainable innovative world-class utility and strengthen the efficiency and
reliability of electricity generation, distribution and transmission, DEWA continues to demonstrate strong
commitment to supporting Research and Development initiatives. The focus of these initiatives spans
across three dimensions: infrastructure, R&D projects, and people/capabilities.
DEWA is currently establishing R&D facilities at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, with a
total investment of AED 500 million up to 2020. Infrastructure includes a state-of-the-art R&D centre
that will host most of the R&D activities, an Outdoor Testing Facility (OTF) for testing solutions and
equipment under the harsh and hot environmental conditions of the UAE and the first 3D printed lab
for R&D on Drones and Artificial Intelligence.
Our projects portfolio is organised across five R&D areas, namely Solar, Water, Energy Efficiency and
Smart Grid Integration & Energy Storage, Drones & Artificial Intelligence. Examples of projects include
soiling mitigation for solar panels, load forecasting, testing of components and development of interfaces
and intelligence for smart grid applications, simulation of solar thermal energy systems for cost and
performance optimisation, development of drones for utility applications, and 3D printing of components
and facilities for our core operations. Additionally, we are exploring other opportunities for engagement
in R&D activities spanning from ocean and geothermal, to wind and hydrogen. Finally, DEWA R&D is
organising the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 and 2020: a sustainable solar houses competition
hosting 22 teams from 37 universities and 16 countries. Proposals will be focused on solving the issues
and needs for sustainable living in this region.
In parallel, through our R&D programmes and initiatives, we are building a strong network of local
and international partnerships and collaborations with industry and academia, and contributing to the
development of the future generation of scientists and engineers for DEWA and UAE. The quality of our
work has already been recognised internationally, through our peer-reviewed publications in international
journals, contributions to international conferences and involvement in world-class collaboration networks.
The knowledge and IP generation within R&D will contribute to sustaining innovation and excellence at
DEWA for the years to come, and provide the UAE with opportunities for further home-grown development and
commercialisation of technologies.

SUSTAINABILITY
44 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
CREATIVITY & INNOVATION AT DEWA

As a utility that adopts creativity and innovation as a part of its culture, DEWA strives to achieve the
vision of the country’s leaders and continuously exerts efforts to develop the concept of creativity and
innovation among the clean energy and water sectors. In 2016, DEWA established its “Innovation and
The Future” Division that merged two operating branches, the “Creativity and Innovation Department”
and “Information Technology”. Creativity and Innovation at DEWA mainly revolve around three function
areas: Innovation planning and relations, Innovation facilitation, and Innovation administration.
In 2016, DEWA received the European Specification Certificate on Innovation Management Systems
(CEN / TS 16555-1-2013), from the British organisation Lloyds Register, for its preparation and
application of an integrated system for innovation management. DEWA is one of the first government
entities to adapt and acquire CEN/TS 16555-1 accreditation. The accreditation provides guidance on
establishing and maintaining an innovation management system (IMS). This new achievement reflects
DEWA’s commitment towards promoting innovation and creativity in adherence with the directives of
the wise leadership, national objectives, and its vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class
utility.
In line with UAE Innovation Week, DEWA organised its annual Innovation Week and Exhibition that
provides DEWA’s employees, innovators and emerging businesses with information regarding our most
recent innovative projects. The Innovation Week featured various activities and events, including the
Future Hub, which highlighted four main themes: Green Planet, Immersive Experiences, Smart City,
and Connected World. DEWA also launched multiple interactive activities in its Future Dome including
I-Talk sessions and Innovation Talk.
Dewa Innovative Forces
In line with our vision to be a sustainable innovative world class utility, DEWA launched the “Innovative
Forces “campaign to recognise the creative minds among our employees and inspire others to innovate.

Maker Entrepreneur Facilitator Maker Entreprenur

Yousuf Al Burei Islam Abuhamdah Dr. Abdulla Al Hammadi Riham Helmi Ammar Makki

Interactions 55 Interviews Conducted, 3 Innovators Profiles identified

Process & Tools Selection & Development, Content & Management

Research Innovation in Corporations, Government & Startups, Expert Advise

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 45
2016 Main Initiatives & Programmes

DEWA Future Utility Cup DEWA Hackathon

DEWA Future Utility Cup is a global Hackathon is a competition based on ideas
competition to identify start-ups that can generation training which provides an
provide innovative solutions for DEWA and introduction to how the creative process works.
possible business collaboration and Participants gain a number of proven practical
partnerships tools to support creativity and innovative
problem solving. The first Hackathon was
Innovation Talk conducted for DEWA employees to encourage
Innovation talk is the way to create an environment them to innovate and create new ideas to
that enables and encourages creative thinking. develop DEWA’s services and achieve the
It is a series of inspirational sessions that will happiness of its customers. The second
be conducted by an innovative and high profile Hackathon was conducted for university
guest speaker for DEWA employees and public. students.
I-talk main objectives will spread the culture of
innovation and present real experiences from
local and international levels in many fields Innovation Tool Kit
such as science, technology, business, culture or Innovation Department has created video tutorials
other fields that concerns DEWA. This for the different techniques of brainstorming to
experience will allow the employees to get a be used by all employees in DEWA and the
critical insight of how innovation is planned and public. In order to make meetings and
executed. brainstorming sessions more effective and
engaging.
Innovation Forces
It is a project that recognizes the creative minds DEWA Robotics Competition
in DEWA and inspires others to innovate. It is a Build It Yourself Robotics Kits project for
5 DEWA innovators series videos were released. students & employees starting from ages 6 to
high school level. In addition to students, these
“Shams Dubai” Solar Roller robotics kits can also be used in DEWA’s
“Shams Dubai” Solar Rollers is a challenge innovation centres for training of DEWA
programe that will encourage students all over employees and further development exercises
UAE to design, build, test and race especially since they include the usage of light
solar-powered remote control cars. It will infuse sensors, IR sensors, and ultrasound sensors.
clean energy learning through younger
generations in a highly engaging manner and it
will establish DEWA as a forward- thinking DEWA Innovation Portfolio
supporter of innovation & sustainability. DEWA developed its first innovation portfolio
to capture and identify the innovative projects
across the entire organisation.
“AFKARI”:
“AFKARI”, My DEWA Ideas, is the official creativity
and innovation scheme in DEWA. It gives all “Ebtikari” Platform
employees an opportunity to contribute to the “Ebtikari”, My invention, is an open online
success of DEWA with their ideas. competition platform which runs specific
challenges on areas which are strategic for
DEWA programmes with Free Electron: DEWA and serves as an active forward-looking
Free Electron is the global energy startup tool of engagement with the global innovation
accelerator programmes that connects the ecosystem. Ebtikari aims to encourage inventors
world’s most promising startups with leading and designers from around the world to present
utility companies to co-create the future of their innovations using a smart platform.
energy and innovative customer solutions.

SUSTAINABILITY
46 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
LEADERSHIP & INNOVATION 2016

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 47
CASE STUDY:

SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

In line with DEWA’s Strategic Plan 2021, the Sustainability Leadership Conference, a collaboration
between Dubai Electricity & Water Authority and Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
(CISL) was conducted in March 2017. The overall aim of the event was to promote sustainable and
innovative business practices in Dubai. More specifically, the Programme focused on Knowledge, Skills,
Innovation, Collaboration and Leadership. The programme included keynote speeches, panel discussions
and interactive workshops, on two separate but interconnected days:
CEO Summit:
The first day was dedicated to CEOs and focused on exploring strategic priorities, and spread awareness on the
importance of sustainability and sustainable growth. During the programme CISL and DEWA signed an MOU for
further collaboration in the areas of sustainability. The topics during the first day included the following: Promoting
city resilience, Sustainability and quality of life, Fostering innovation and leadership, Delivering the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), Sustainable Growth, Resource security, Competitiveness and Sustainable Business, and
Mobilising finance behind a sustainable economy.
Sustainability Masterclass:
The second day included master classes that were dedicated to employees with a responsibility in fields related
to sustainability, reporting, corporate responsibility, climate change, supply chains, stakeholders’ engagement and
communication, human resources. The topics during the second day covered the following: Setting leading
Sustainability Strategies, Sustainability value in circular economy, Sustainable organisations workplace
culture and engagement, Measuring and reporting progress, and Innovating thinking and sustainability.

CASE STUDY:

ENVIRONMENTAL INDUCTION FOR DEWA ACADEMY

DEWA partnered with the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC), a British organisation
that pioneered in vocational rehabilitation. Through this partnership, DEWA launched an Academy for
Emiratis to support an Emiratisation policy building their technical skills in electricity and water sector.
This Academy comes in line with the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the UAE Vision 2021 that aims “to
invest in its talented Emiratis and make the UAE one of the best countries worldwide” and led by DEWA’s
vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility”.
The environment department in DEWA came up with an initiative of sending their specialised staff to
deliver topics on Environmental Management Systems and basic concepts of an Environment System

SUSTAINABILITY
48 REPORT 2016
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
to DEWA Academy students and distribute the topics based on their knowledge level. The goal of
the initiative is to inspire a new generation to take better care of the environment and to foster
environmental awareness while moving towards sustainability. This initiative will also lead students to
be highly aware about the environmental issues that are occurring on a global scale.

DEWA & THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

As an energy and water utility, DEWA’s role is to support and encourage economic, social and
environmental progress, leading to a better quality of life through the provision of high quality and
reliable services to all the households and businesses within the Emirate of Dubai. We believe in taking
the long view and going beyond mitigating harm to driving real sustainable progress, which is why
sustainability forms an integral part of our corporate strategy.
The United Nations has played a substantial role in encouraging sustainable progress. The Sustainable
Development Goals were born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio
de Janeiro in 2012 with the aim to meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges
facing our world. A set of 17 Goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all were
adopted by world leaders on September 2015 and came into force in January 2016.
DEWA was committed to the former Millennium Development Goals and is now also supporting the
current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Though we indirectly contribute to many SDGs (Goal
3, 5 8, 11, 16 and 17 we can have the most impact on the goals that are aligned with our main impact
areas and strategic priorities.
As an energy and water utility committed to empowering our customers and accelerating sustainability
within our company as well as all our stakeholders, DEWA is directly linked to the below goals, thus settings our
primary focus to:

Goal 6 Goal 12 Ensure sustainable

Ensure access to water and consumption and production
sanitation for all patterns

Goal 13
Goal 7
Take urgent action to combat
Affordable and clean energy
climate change and its
for all
impacts

Goal 9 Goal 14
Build resilient infrastructure, Conserve and sustainably use
promote inclusive and the oceans, seas and marine
sustainable industrialisation resources for sustainable
and foster innovation development

Our primary contribution to the above SDGs is highlighted throughout this report.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 49
ENERGY & CLIMATE
CHANGE
60% improvement in NOx Emission Levels in 2016 with
respect to 2007.

25% renewables generation capacity will be achieved by

2030

Cumulative efficiency improvement of 25.47%, equivalent

to 37.5 million tons of CO2 emission reduction between
2006 and 2016 .

10,000 MW generation capacity for 2016.

3.3% electricity line losses for 2016, 30% improvement

since 2007.
 SUSTAINABILITY
52 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
MANAGEMENT APPROACH

Climate change has risen to the top of the UAE political and business agenda due to the urgency and
importance of the issue. In the UAE, we are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Key risks for
the UAE include rising sea water temperatures, rising sea levels, adverse fluctuations in the hydrological
cycle, and changes in the level of rainfall. These events could have an impact on DEWA’s coastal power
and water generation plants since the capacity of power generation and water production is dependent
on sea water temperatures. This would lead to additional stress on our existing water and power
resources.
The UAE government is committed to confronting climate change through innovative and coordinated
action aimed at minimising the risks to its natural environment and economic activity. Several policies,
from both the UAE Federal Government and Dubai Government, include objectives focused on
the mitigation of climate change impacts and energy source diversification. Dubai in particular has
established ambitious clean energy goals, with DEWA playing a critical role by increasing its renewable
energy targets, managing energy demand, and further reducing carbon footprint in accordance with the
comprehensive strategic guidelines established by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy.
As Dubai’s sole provider of power and water, we recognise that we have an integral role in helping to
achieve these policy objectives by reducing the carbon intensity of electricity and water production and
enabling our stakeholders to reduce their consumption and ultimately save costs. We believe that the
challenges posed by climate change demand coordinated and decisive action. Our aim is to reduce our
climate impact while maintaining a secure, reliable and affordable supply of power and water. Prior to
the construction of any new DEWA project, an environmental impact assessment is first conducted by
independent consultants, using international standards, before any construction can commence.
DEWA is implementing innovative solutions to improve supply side efficiency, reduce transmission
and distribution losses and diversify energy sources to support sustainable economic growth without
damaging the environment and natural resource. DEWA also works to instil a culture of conservation in
society and to achieve the Dubai Demand Side Management strategy to reduce consumption by 30%
by 2030, and the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy to reduce carbon emissions by 16% by 2021
which is line with UAE Vision 2021, Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, and the Green Economy for
Sustainable Development Initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND COMPLIANCE

We continuously seek to minimise our impact on the surrounding ecosystem through reducing our air
emissions, reducing our waste, and ensuring we are compliant with all relevant environmental legislation.
At DEWA, we abide by the precautionary principle with regards to the environment. We have corporate
policies and procedures that describe the preventative actions that should be taken to eliminate the
cause of any potential non-conformity, defect, or other undesirable situations in order to avoid the
occurrences and related environmental impacts. To ensure that we effectively manage these risks
and meet industry and legal standards, we have implemented an ISO-14001 certified environmental
management system (EMS) which has been maintained at the corporate level since 2006 and in our
Generation Division since 1998. It has provided the foundation for continuous improvement in the
way we manage our environmental impacts. DEWA’s efforts to preserve natural resources and achieve
environmental excellence has resulted in winning many prestigious awards in the field of environmental
excellence during 2016. These include the Five Star Environmental Audit from the British Safety
Council, for five consecutive years, and the Globe of Honour from the British Safety Council. DEWA
was the first organisation in the MENA region to receive this prestigious award five years in a row.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 53
DEWA complies with all relevant environmental regulations set forth by both the UAE Federal
Government and Dubai Municipality. These regulations set standards for regulating aspects of health,
safety, security and environmental quality and impose civil and criminal penalties for any violations.
In addition, we also comply with any special permit provisions where we operate in environmentally
sensitive areas. During 2016, we have not been in violation of any environmental regulations nor have
we received any complaints relating to environmental matters.

POWER GENERATION
Our fundamental mission is to supply essential electricity and water to meet Dubai’s current and
future demand. We place the utmost importance on our duty to deliver electricity and water services
to the market and our customers, and in doing so we strive for world-class standards of performance.
DEWA owns, operates and maintains power stations and desalination plants, aquifers, power and
water transmission lines and power and water distribution networks in Dubai. Our Generation division
mainly manages, operates and maintains very reliable power generation and water desalination plants
to meet Dubai’s power and water needs at the highest standards of reliability, efficiency, quality and
environmental safety. Our power generation and water desalination stations are mainly fuelled by
natural gas. We buy gas exclusively from the Dubai Supply Authority (DUSUP), which is responsible
for procuring, transmitting, storing and delivering to end customers all natural gas in the Emirate of
Dubai. In 2016, our total gross generation was 43,091,953 MWh, which was produced mainly through
the usage of natural gas. te r
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SUSTAINABILITY
54 REPORT 2016
CASE STUDY:

M-STATION

Expansion of M-Station Power and Water Desalination Plant

Recognising that securing the supply of electricity and water, and ensuring their long-term sustainability
is critical to achieving the vision of the wise leadership, in DEWA, we work to anticipate the future, to
meet all future requirements and needs. The M-Station is a national landmark, and adds to DEWA’s
growing list of achievements over the last five decades. The M-Station was inaugurated in Jebel Ali
Power Station in April 2013 by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai,

Minister of Finance and President of DEWA.

The M-station is the largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE, with a current total

capacity of 2,185MW of electricity and 140 MIGD. The station adopts the highest levels of availability,
reliability, and efficiency, using the most advanced technologies in the world. It is equipped with the
latest smart devices and sophisticated heavy-duty technological systems. M-Station was built at a cost

of AED 10 billion and AED 150 million.

Since 2015, DEWA has worked with Siemens on the construction of the Jebel Ali M-Station expansion,

as the total cost of M-Station construction along with the expansion project reaches AED 11.5 billion.

The substation’s total capacity will reach 2,885 MW when the project is completed in 2018. The
expansion project includes the provision of new power generating units adding a further 700MW to
the installed generating capacity of M-Station.
The expansion project includes the addition of two dual-fuel gas turbine generators, two heat
recovery steam boilers, and one steam turbine with 90% of fuel efficiency. This will increase the
plant’s thermal efficiency from 82.4% to 85.8%, which is one of the highest thermal-efficiency rates
in the world. DEWA has succeeded in enhancing the efficiency of fuel use between 84-90%, while
improving production efficiency by 25.47% in 2016, compared to 2006, through the deployment of
highly efficient technologies in the production of electricity, and water desalination. This will meet
Dubai’s present and future needs of electricity and water including the new urban expansion projects,
complementing the prosperity and economic development of the Emirate of Dubai.

POWER TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION

It is also vital that we transport electricity to our customers in a way that enhances both reliability and
efficiency as it travels through our transmission and distribution (T&D) network. Our transmission line
availability is typically above 99.9% reflecting world-class standards of performance.

Table : Total number of Transmission and Distribution substations, 2016

Voltage Category (kV) Number of Substation

400 21
132 222
33 111
11 & 6.6 31,961

SUSTAINABILITY
56 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
In DEWA, we also work to reduce our system losses from our networks by making substantial
investments to implement and enhance our Intelligent Metering System and Smart Grid. One of
DEWA’s key optimisation systems we use to ensure a consistent transmission and distribution of
electricity to our customers is our Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), a monitoring and
control technology system of transmission and distribution Grids. Our continued efforts to optimise
our network has resulted in our 2016 electricity line losses being 3.3%, a 30% improvement since 2007.

Table : Length of Transmission and Distribution Lines, 2016

Length Of Transmission
Type Voltage Category (kV) And Distribution Lines (km)

400 1,125
Overhead Lines 132 413
33 113
400 23
132 1,800
Underground Lines
33 2,052
11 & 6.6 29,384

In line with our commitment to adopt and employ green initiatives, DEWA established a LEED
initiative under its Transmission Power Division to support and comply with green building criteria
for our substations. The purpose of the initiative is to enhance energy and water consumption
savings in DEWA’s electrical substation in accordance with the requirements and standards of the
LEED certificate. The LEED Certification is a green building rating system used to measure human
and environmental, health, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials
selection, indoor environmental quality, etc.

REGIONAL GRID CONNECTIVITY

To ensure a reliable supply of electricity throughout the UAE, the Emirates National Grid (ENG) was
established to interconnect the electricity transmission grids of the four Authorities (given below) and
allow them to purchase electricity from one another. The ENG forms part of a Gulf-wide regional grid
system, linking the national grids of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). DEWA has neither imported
nor exported electricity in the year 2016 to meet its system requirements.

ADWEA Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority

DEWA DUBAI Electricity and Water Authority

FEWA Federal Electricity and Water Authority

SEWA Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 57
ENSURING LONG TERM AVAILABILITY & RELIABILITY

We recognise that high-dependence on natural gas makes us vulnerable to shortages and future
commodity price fluctuations. Therefore, part of our long-term energy strategy is to diversify our
energy sources, as part of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, and ensure that future demand is
met at all times. DEWA plays an essential role in achieving these goals by reinforcing the renewable
energy sector to meet the objectives of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which maps out
Dubai’s energy sector over the next three decades. The strategy aims to provide 7% of Dubai’s total
power output from clean resources by 2020, 25% by 2030, and 75% by 2050. This contributes
to dealing with environmental challenges the world is facing by establishing a sustainable model in
energy conservation that supports economic growth without damaging the environment and natural
resources.
Dubai Clean Energy Strategy

Clean Energy Sources in Dubai

2020 7%
2030 25%
2050 75%

Dubai will be the city with the lowest To make Dubai a global centre for
carbon footprint in the world by 2050 clean energy and green economy

To build employees capabilities • Nuclear

by using training programmes in • Clean Coal
cooperation with international • Solar
• Natural Gas
es En
organisations and institutes
p a citi Frie viron
Ca ndl me
i l d ing Skills y E nta
Bu and ner lly
gy -
Mix

DUBAI
Funding

Establishment of Dubai Green CLEAN ENERGY

ure

STRATEGY • Mohammed
Fund worth USD 27 billion bin Rashid Al
PILLARS
t
struc

Maktoum Solar
Park
Infra

• DEWA Innovation
Centre

Legis • Dubai Green Zone

lation

• The first phase will be implemented by "Shams Dubai"

• The Second phase includes a set of plans on the integration of consumption
conservation technology and energy production in buildings

SUSTAINABILITY
58
REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
DIVERSIFICATION OF FUEL MIX

DEWA is committed to meet and establish the growing interest in sustainable energy and diversifying
its sources while preserving the environment and achieving sustainable development

7% Nuclear
7% Clean Coal

25% Solar
61% Natural Gas

SOLAR ENERGY
As part of DEWA’s efforts to utilise solar energy and contribute to meet its clean energy strategy,
DEWA works on multiple world class projects including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar
Park and “Shams Dubai” Initiative.

Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world
located in Seih Al Dahal, Dubai with a total planned capacity of 5,000MW by 2030. The first phase of
the project started operation in 2013 with a capacity of 13MW (under optimum weather conditions),
which is the largest photovoltaic power plant of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The second phase of the solar park was successfully launched in April 2017 with a total capacity of
200MW that is under the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. DEWA announced the Abu Dubai
Future Energy Company (Masdar) led consortium as selected bidder for the 800MW third phase of
the solar park. The third phase will be implemented in stages until 2020. Upon completion, the solar
park will reduce over 6.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

“Shams Dubai”
DEWA launched “Shams Dubai” in adherence with the Smart Dubai initiative, to transform Dubai into
an innovation benchmark for smart cities seeking global sustainability and competitiveness. “Shams
Dubai” encourages building owners to install photovoltaic (PV) panels on their rooftops to generate
electricity from solar power. The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s grid.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 59

CLEAN COAL ENERGY

Hassyan Clean Coal Power Project
DEWA launched the Hassyan Clean Coal Power Project to produce electricity using clean coal based
on the Independent Power Producer (IPP). Hassyan clean coal power project will have a total coal-
fired capacity of 2,400 MW, that will be fully-operational by 2023. The plant will be the first of its
kind in the region and is fully-compliant with set international standards, adopting the use of ultra-
supercritical technology. The project also meets flue gas emission limits more stringently than emission
limits of both the Industrial Emissions Directive of the European Union and the International Finance
Corporation Guidelines.

NUCLEAR ENERGY
To meet our nuclear energy target of 7%, as part of our diversification strategy, DEWA has initiated
negotiations and dialogue with regards to nuclear power import from the Barakah Nuclear Plant in
Abu Dhabi.

HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION IN HATTA

In 2016, DEWA announced building a hydroelectric power station project in Hatta that will further
contribute to diversifying the energy mix and develop the resources available to the community in Hatta
to meet their social, economic, and environmental development needs. DEWA will build a hydroelectric
power station that will make use of the water stored in the mountains next to Al Hattawi dam. This
project is the first of its kind in the GCC, and will produce 250MW with a lifespan of 60-80 years.

MEETING FUTURE DEMAND

While maintaining a reliable, high quality and efficient power and water supply to Dubai today, DEWA is
committed to ensuring that this continues in the long run at a world-class level of reliability, efficiency
and safety with due consideration to the sustainability of resources. Power and Water Planning Division
at DEWA plays a key role in achieving that through defined and reliable planning processes. These
planning processes are based on studies using state of the art tools and recognised international best
practice methods to ensure all requirements are met in an optimal manner.
Planning processes start with demand forecasting up to 2030 which is updated annually considering
demographic and econometric growth and captures the effect of future uncertainties through scenario
planning. This ensures achievement of DEWA strategy 2021 and full alignment with Dubai and UAE
key strategies. Based on Demand Forecast, all DEWA Master Plans are developed.
Master Plans provide infrastructure expansion plans of Power and Water systems including: generation
and desalination capacity expansion plans up to 2030, power and water transmission network expansions
up to 10 years and power distribution network up to 5 years. Master Plans are updated annually in
order to meet Dubai power and water demands on time with a reserve margin minimum of 15% at a
world class level of reliability, efficiency and safety, taking into consideration best resource utilisation.
Resources for future power and water infrastructure expansions are identified and budgeted for, on an
annual basis as per the Master Plans, to ensure meeting forecasted demand until 2030.

SUSTAINABILITY
60 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
Graph: Peak Power Demand and Planned Capacity Additions (2016-2030)

22,000
20,000
18,000
16,000
14,000
Power (MW)

12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030
Year

Peak Power Demand (MW) Available Power Capacity (MW)

DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT

The Demand Side Management (DSM) Strategy was launched by the Dubai Supreme Council of
Energy in June 2013. DEWA supports the Demand Side Management 2030 strategy to reduce energy
demand in Dubai by 30% in 2030, compared to the business as usual. Demand Side Management
focuses on reducing energy demand, the rational use of energy, and the adoption of best international
techniques and practices to reduce the consumption of resources, by raising awareness about the
practices and techniques to save energy and reduce costs. The strategy has 9 main programmes in
line with international best practices and similar programs implemented globally. These programmes
address every facet of our everyday life and contribute to the sustainable development of Dubai. These
include: green-building regulations, retrofitting of existing buildings, district cooling, wastewater reuse,
laws and standards to raise efficiency, energy-efficient street-lighting, and the “Shams Dubai” initiative
to enable building owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity and connect it to DEWA’s
grid.
DSM Programs and Initiatives

District Water Reuse Building Demand “Shams Dubai”

Cooling and Efficient Retrofits Response
Irrigation

Building Change to Outdoor Standards & Labels

Regulations Tariffs Rates Lighting for Appliances &
Equipments

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 61
 Activity

Awareness campaigns Energy saving equipments

Educate the public on conservation
Provide energy / water-saving

and best practices in electricity and

devices

water consumption and usage

Programmes for educational institutions, Freely distributing to the audience, during

government departments, commercial society- engagement drives, efficient homes
establishments, residents, neighbourhoods devices such as energy-saver lamps,

etc. water-flow reducers/aerators etc.

Integrated media campaigns, road shows,

Smart eco-friendly home appliances awarded to
workshops etc.
winners in DEWA’s environmental events
DEWA website (conservation tips), social

media

Broadcast email and SMS messages Changing behaviours

Leaflets, brochures Assist our residential customers to
Recognition schemes (Best Consumer Award, understand their consumption
Conservation Award - For a Better Tomorrow)
Monthly tracking of consumption through

customer e-services portal

Electricity and water audits Recognising monthly consumption

Identify ways for our customers

slab-wise

to conserve water and power

Benchmarking consumption

Electricity and water audits covering most customer CO2 footprints

governmental buildings, office buildings,

hotels, shopping centres and residential

buildings.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT AT DEWA PREMISES

DEWA supports the Demand Side Management 2030 plan to reduce energy demand in Dubai by
30%, compared to the business as usual scenario, by 2030. In 2016, our electricity consumption
from DEWA’s Head Office and Customer Happiness Centres located at Al Hudaiba, Umm Ramool,
Al Wasl and Burj Nahar is 10,705,237 kWh. In line with Demand Side Management Strategy, DEWA
has launched a number of initiatives to enhance the efficient use of power and water. Through these
initiatives, the annual per capita consumption of electricity and water has been reduced from 13,626
kWh and 38,554 IG in 2015, to 12,826 kWh and 36,391 IG in 2016.
Under the energy management of DEWA premises, many conservation measures including housekeeping
measures were implemented by DEWA in 5 of its buildings. We have achieved 19% for electricity and
52% for water savings by end of year 2016. The cumulative savings during the period from 2013 to
2016 is 4.6 million AED.
In April 2016, DEWA inaugurated one of the largest single-rooftop arrays in the MENA region, a 1.5
megawatt direct current (MWdc) photovoltaic (PV) generation project at Jebel Ali Power Station, and
successfully connected it to DEWA’s grid. DEWA installed 5,240 PV panels on the roof of the water
reservoir at the M-Station. The modules will produce 1.5MW by converting solar energy into electricity,
which will be used to meet the station’s energy needs, and will generate 2,666 MWh of clean electricity
annually. The project aims to preserve the environment, and reduce the carbon emissions about 1,500
tons of the carbon dioxide annually. Furthermore, DEWA is using Uunmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
to check on the PV panels situated on the roof storage water tank of M-Station in Jebel Ali.

SUSTAINABILITY
62 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
DEWA’S SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS

Al Quoz Sustainable Building

DEWA’s Sustainable Building in Al Quoz inaugurated in 2013, is the first sustainable government
building in the UAE, and the largest government building in the world to receive a Platinum Rating
for green buildings, from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The building uses
66% less energy, and includes an on-site 660 kilowatt (kW) solar power plant, which reduces water
consumption by as much as 48%. In addition, 36% of construction material used was recycled content.

more than

of construction waste
diverted from the landfill
energy saving based on ASHRAE
vegetated roof
90.1-2007 baseline energy code

water savings

construction materials (peak) on-site solar

with recycled content photovoltaic plant
of wood based materials
are FSC certified

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 63
“Al-Sheraa”, DEWA’s New Headquarters

As a utility that embeds sustainability and adopts creativity and innovation as part of its culture,
DEWA has started construction of its new headquarters, named “Al-Sheraa” (Arabic for sail), that
will be the tallest, largest, and smartest net Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in the world. The “Al-Sheraa”
building is being built in the heart of the Cultural Village in Al Jadaf.

“Al-Sheraa’s” design was inspired by the UAE’s traditional houses, where enclosed spaces overlook an

open courtyard. This latest achievement confirms Dubai’s global position as a role model for leading
organisations in sustainability, innovation, and shaping the future.

The building will use the latest technologies including Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Open

Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). “Al-Sheraa” is planned to be a Zero Energy Building (ZEB), where
the total energy used in the building during a year is equal to or less than the energy produced on site
during that year. DEWA’s new headquarters is targeted to receive platinum rating by LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design), where platinum is the highest certification. The project seeks
also to achieve WELL Certification. The WELL Rating System focuses mainly on health and well-being
of building occupants addressing 7 concepts which includes Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness,
Comfort and Mind. The building will be completed and inaugurated in 2019.

SUSTAINABILITY
64 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
SUPPLY SIDE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

DEWA produces electricity and water mostly by cogeneration; a process in which waste heat from the
burning of natural gas to produce electricity is captured through Heat Recovery Steam Generators
(HRSG) and used to produce steam (i.e. no fuel), which is used to produce water through the desalination
process of multistage flashing or to generate additional free electricity through back pressure steam
turbines. Over a number of years we have invested in efficiency improvements including converting
many simple cycle gas turbine plants into more efficient combined cycle plants and installing cooling
systems in our gas turbines. Overall, between 2006 and 2016, we have achieved a cumulative efficiency
improvement of 25.47%, equivalent to 37.5 million tons of CO2 emission reduction. This has been
achieved through a combination of optimum power plant design, power augmentation, innovative
upgrades for gas turbines, optimised operations and optimised outage planning. In addition, we
produce our own auxiliary power which is the electricity we consume to support primary electricity
generation operations. By enhancing supply side efficiency we reduce our auxiliary power requirements
thus reducing the carbon intensity of generation. We are proud to report a continuous year on year
improvement on the amount of carbon saved through efficiency measures.
Optimum power plant design
For DEWA, deciding on the optimum design depends on the power to water requirements. In general,
the optimum power and water production design is achieved in a hybrid system where water production
is shared between several technologies – multi-stage flashing desalination and reverse osmosis, which
will result in the minimum cost and highest efficient throughout the lifecycle of the plant.

Power augmentation
In the summer months, with ambient temperatures reaching 45°C, gas turbine generation capacity
typically drops by around 20%, which reduces power output and efficiency, and increases emission
intensity and costs. The recovery of this power loss and efficiency is possible using several cost effective
and proven power augmentation options. Through the use of these technologies, DEWA has cost-
effectively increased capacity by over 650 MW by 2016 with respect to 2006 and improved efficiency
in the process, which reduced our emission intensity.
Innovative upgrades for gas turbines
After installing any gas turbine, DEWA continuously follows up with the original equipment
manufacturers with regards to any new proven and cost-effective technologies and upgrades that have
become available during the lifecycle of the gas turbine, which will increase capacity and/or improve
efficiency and reliability. An example of this would be one of our key projects, Thermal Energy Storage
and Turbine Inlet Air Cooling (TESTIAC) located at Jebel Ali, Dubai. TESTIAC improves the efficiency
of three gas turbines by implementing an inlet air chilling system, it generates electrical energy with
less fossil fuel consumption, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Optimised operation
During times of low demand, some electricity generation units have to be shut down to avoid running
inefficiently at low load levels. In DEWA, cyclic operation of units is completed on the basis of less
efficient units being shut down first in order to permit operation of the remaining units at higher loads
and improved efficiency.
Outage planning
DEWA uses a management tool that coordinates all maintenance outage requests to minimise outages
and meet demand with the highest efficiency and minimum fuel cost.
SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 65

Graph: Efficiency Gains from improvement in Gross Heat Rate 2007-2016 with respect to 2006

30 28.36 27.00
Efficiency improvment (%)
26.18 26.88
25 25.47
20.04
20 18.08

15 12.84
9.02
10

5 2.52

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Year

Graph: Carbon reduction (MtCO2) due to efficiency improvements with respect to 2006
6
5.5 5.6 5.5
4.8 5
5
Million Tons CO 2

4 3.7
3.3
3
2.2
2
1.5
1
0.3
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Year

CO2 EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAMME

DEWA has developed a Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction Programme, setting out the course of short,
medium, and long term emissions reduction actions leading up to 2030, which takes into consideration
Dubai’s energy and water growth requirements, Dubai’s water and electricity consumption rationalisation
initiatives, DEWA’s supply side efficiency improvements, and the diversification of DEWA’s power and
water generation plant additions. We are also one of the first entities in the region to be ISO 14064
certified for established corporate greenhouse gas monitoring, reporting and verification system. In
DEWA, we believe that improved carbon efficiencies translate into effective resource management and
associated economic benefits.
In 2016, our total carbon emissions were 21.79 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e)
compared to 24.60 MtCO2e business as usual estimate. The majority of our carbon emissions emitted
comes from the combustion of natural gas to generate power and desalinated water. Our carbon
emissions also comes from refrigerants, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) usage in circuit breakers and fuel
combustion from DEWA’s fleet vehicles. DEWA excludes any source that contribute less than 1% of
its total emissions. Along with generation, the transmission and distribution of electricity needs to
be included as a considerable mean of reducing emissions. DEWA is also meeting environmental and

SUSTAINABILITY
66 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
Graph: Mt of CO2e and percentage of CO2e emissions by source, 2016

WATER
POWER 2.86 MtCO2e
18.88 MtCO2e

Others
(fleets, refrigerants, SF6 usage in
circuit breakers)
0.05 MtCO2e

operational goals through cost-effective solutions to manage SF6 in high voltage circuit breakers and
phase out restricted refrigerants.
For DEWA, effective monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
is critical for tracking progress towards the achievement of emission reduction targets. DEWA prepares
the Carbon Footprint Report in full accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG), the most
widely used international carbon calculation methodology, compatible with the ISO 14064 – 1, which
also allows for integration with national and international GHG registries.
The Carbon Footprint Report is intended to quantify and calculate DEWA’s annual GHG emissions
which include CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, HFC and PFC. DEWA follows an operational control approach
in consolidating, monitoring and reporting on its GHG emissions, quantifying them in terms of CO2
equivalent. DEWA calculates its GHG emissions utilising emission factors for its consumed fuels as per
the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines. The used Gross Warming
Potential (GWP) factors for the respective greenhouse gases are as per IPCC Fourth Assessment
Report, Climate Change 2007. DEWA’s GHG Inventory base-year is 2012. Our 2016 Carbon Footprint
Report was finalised using data management processes within monitoring, reporting and verification
framework across all DEWA’s divisions. DEWA also intends to introduce Electronic Emission Reporting
System to automate the data collection process and to early detect the emissions trends and indicate
our abilities and actions to mitigate adverse environmental impacts. Furthermore, the carbon intensity
of electricity generated was relatively low, 0.4382 tCO2e per MWh in 2016, due to DEWA’s focus on
improving the efficiency of generation, transmission and distribution of power and water, introduction
of renewable energy in the grid, and reduction of customer demand through the promotion of energy
conservation.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 67
Graph: Carbon emissions intensity, tCO2e per MWh of electricity generated, 2010-2016

0.538

0.527

0.5045
0.502
0.47

0.4932

0.4984
0.4991
0.449
0.469

0.4437

0.4382
0.4307

0.4241
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Combined (Electricity & Water) tCO2e/MWh
Electricity tCO2e/MWh

70
MINIMISATION OF AIR EMISSIONS

60
Air emissions have adverse effects on our local climate, ecosystems, and air quality. In Dubai, regulations
are50
in place to control nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions. Due to continuous
improvement in the efficiency of our plants, we have achieved excellence in NOx and SO2 emission
40
reduction. DEWA’s strategy to reduce NOx emissions starts at the design stage of any power and
water plant by specifying stringent NOx emission limits for gas turbines. For example, our average
30
annual NOx emissions from all units for 2016 was 25.63 ppm, inclusive of all fuel types, gas turbines,
and25boilers, which is less than the UAE Federal Government requirement of 37ppm and the European
Union Requirement (Large Combustion Plant Directive 2001 for Plant Built After 2003) of 27ppm.
20 regards to SO2 emissions, DEWA has maintained very low emissions due to the burning of
With
natural gas. Regarding the stand by diesel fuel, DEWA has started procuring diesel fuel with ≤10ppm
15 content instead of ≤ 500ppm sulphur content, in line with the 2014 UAE Government Federal
sulphur
Regulations.
10
In 2013, DEWA also set an action plan in place to phase out all Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) by
5 an investment of approximately AED 11.66 million, in line with both the Montreal Protocol and
2020,
the Dubai Municipality Technical Guideline #7, which seeks to phase out ozone depleting substances
0
completely by the year 2030. Since implemented, 54.9% of R-22, a refrigerant, has been phased
out, as of 2016. In addition to our major initiatives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our
production facilities, we have also focused on a number of smaller-scale initiatives for reducing the
leakage of a potent greenhouse gas called SF6 from switch gears used to control, protect and isolate
electrical equipment. SF6 (Sulphur Hexafluoride) has a global warming potential of 22,800 times that
of carbon dioxide and so any leakage could be significant. All SF6 gas leaks from 132 & 400 kV Gas
Insulated Switchgear (GIS) are promptly attended by our maintenance team with the aim of achieving
100% rectification of identified SF6 gas leaks. Moreover, we also believe that low carbon practices
should be embedded throughout our entire operations, including the way we manage our vehicle fleet,
business processes and buildings. An excellent example of this is our sustainable building in Al Quoz,
the largest government building in the world to be LEED Platinum-rated.

SUSTAINABILITY
68 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
Graph: Annual NOx air emissions, 2007-2016

70
63.93
60

50

37.93
40
34.76
28.83
30 25.63
26.81
PPM

22.06 20.98 21.15 23.42

25

20

15

10

0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Year

Graph: Annual SO2 air emissions, 2007-2016

50
44.66
45

40

35

30

PPM

25

20

15

10
3.59
5 1.81
3.53
1 1.02 0.76 0.75 0.74 0.64
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Year

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 69
CARBON MARKETS

DEWA, being one of the first entities in the region, has developed significant expertise in the field of
carbon offsetting, having registered several Clean Development Mechanisms projects under United
Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change for Climate Change (UNFCCC). Registration of
projects that involve innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions allows DEWA to

monetise certified carbon credits (CERs) and generate revenues over the next years.

The first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, a 13MW photovoltaic plant,

has been awarded 10,635 carbon credits from the Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, Executive
Board of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the Clean Development
Mechanisms Framework, DEWA also initiated the UAE Small Scale Solar Programme of Activities
(PoA) to facilitate financing of projects and environmental programmes through certifying emission
reductions by owners and developers of solar projects in the UAE. The PoA will also officially support
“Shams Dubai”, which is one of the nine programmes to drive sustainability that is part of the Demand
Side Management Strategy launched by the Supreme Council of Energy. Furthermore, DEWA’s Thermal
Energy Storage Turbine Inlet Air Cooling (TESTIAC) project also qualified under the UNFCCC as a
Clean Development Mechanism initiative due to the considerable reduction of greenhouse gases. The
project generated a total of 55,373 and 39,824 tons of CO2e in the years 2013 and 2014, respectively,
which were issued as Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) by the UNFCCC.

ACCELERATING CLIMATE ACTION

Countries across the globe adopted the historic international climate agreement at the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in
December 2015. The UAE has submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)
together with 164 countries, demonstrating its strong commitment to tackle the issue of climate change
and achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. The UAE seeks to adopt best practices and
environmental leadership in energy through various strategies, action plans and initiatives. Dubai in particular
has established ambitious clean energy goals, with DEWA contributing by increasing its renewable energy
targets, better managing energy demand, and further reducing carbon footprint in accordance with the
comprehensive strategic guidelines established by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy.
DEWA has been a part of the UAE delegation to both the annual pre-COP and COP negotiations
since 2012 and is a trusted partner of the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to lead
technical negotiations on the matters related to the Clean Development Mechanisms and Mitigation
under the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, Article 6. As many other organisations worldwide,
DEWA has systematically worked on cutting its emissions to support the global goal of avoiding the
2°C increase in the Earth’s temperature through our Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction Programme,
which is one of the first of its kind in the region.

SUSTAINABILITY
70 REPORT 2016
 ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
CASE STUDY:

REMOTE MONITORING OF DISTRIBUTION

SUBSTATIONS & EARTH FAULT INDICATORS (EFI)

To strengthen the efficiency and reliability of our Transmission and Distribution networks, DEWA
introduced a remote motoring system to its distribution substations to identify fault location remotely
in its distribution control centre (DCC). The system identifies and reduces supply restoration time and
improve distribution network of our Customer Minutes Loss for the installed substations. The first
phase of the project installed the system for 300 substations in February 2016. The second and third
phase of the project will introduce the system for 2,000 substations by end of 2018.
The system enables faster restoration of supply during forced outages. It also improves the customer
minutes loss to meet DEWA’s target and further improves DEWA’s customer satisfaction through
faster service restoration. In 2016, the system facilitated 30% reduction in supply restoration time for
the installed distribution feeders. Furthermore, there were 16.4% customer minutes lost improvement
for the installed feeders. Overall, the system saves time, cost, manpower efforts, fuel travel consumption
and CO2 emissions.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 71
WATER

During 2016, we reduced our water losses to 8%, one of

the lowest worldwide, compared to approximately 11%
in North America.

DEWA met 100% of Dubai’s water needs in 2016.

Over 160,689 smart water meters were installed in

Dubai during 2016.
MANAGEMENT APPROACH

We have continuously worked to maximise our water efficiency in our own operations and to encourage
our customers to minimise their consumption. As such, we have set long term strategies and adopted
various projects and initiatives to improve our efficiency and reduce consumption. We are committed
to maintain the quality of the water delivered to our customers without compromising that of the fresh
and marine water resources that we rely on to produce potable water.
We have identified six main focus areas in our water management approach which are:

Production Wastewater
Water Production
Discharge Management

Water Transmission Whole Water Cycle

and Distribution Approach

Water Quality Customer Water Use

WATER PRODUCTION
The majority of the water we produce, comes from the desalination of the Arabian Gulf seawater.
The seawater is pumped to our Jebel Ali Power and Desalination complex, where it is chlorinated,
conditioned, and filtered, it is subsequently used for either water production or for cooling of power
plant equipment. One challenge for DEWA is that the quality of the seawater intake can be impacted
by rise in seawater temperature, oil spills, algal blooms, seasonal seaweeds, and high turbidity due to
industrial development. The lower the quality of seawater intake, the higher the amount of energy
required in the pre-treatment and desalination processes. Therefore, we continuously monitor the
intake water quality situation. There are three main desalination processes, multi-stage flashing (MSF),
multi-effect desalination process (MED), and reverse osmosis desalination (RO). At DEWA, we utilise
mainly MSF technology in most of our water production facilities, with a small portion using RO
technology.
In 2016, our installed capacity from our desalination plants was 470 MIGD. with a total seawater
withdrawal of 3,403 MIGD. The seawater intake volume is measured by adding our water production and
discharge to the sea and subtracting water volumes that were not sourced from the sea. Furthermore,
we met the peak daily and monthly demand for 2016, with substantial reserves. The peak daily water
demand of 356 MIG was on 24 August 2016, an increase of 2.07% growth compared to 2015.
The average daily water demand in 2016 was 319 MIGD compared to 312 MIGD of 2015, which is
an increase of 2.42%. While the peak monthly average of 347 MIGD occurred in August 2016, an
increase of 2.89% growth compared to 2015.
Our installed capacity from underground wells was approximately 32 MIGD. However, this is reserved
for contingencies. During 2016, we utilised approximately 1.26 MIGD from underground wells. The
underground water production is measured through meter readings on the respective pumps. In the
UAE, groundwater abstraction from underground wells (driven largely by agriculture) is depleting
groundwater reserves. We recognise that the use of water from underground wells needs to be managed
carefully and therefore we mainly use the water during emergencies or when water is required in areas
where water networks are unavailable.

SUSTAINABILITY
74 REPORT 2016
Graph : Water Production Cycle

WATER
on day (desalination) /
ati ns per 32 m
lin al gallo illio
sa eri n im
e im
p p
n eri
D
ter llio a
Wa

lg
0m

allo
47

ns
:
ity

per
Wells
pac

day
d Ca

(Well
Installe

s)
Water Desalination
Plant
Wate
r Tr
ans

rs
mi

ne
s si

om
on

Cu
st
Di
&

st r r
ibt ate
io n
6 6 6,0 06 W

Graph: Total water production capacity in 2016 (million imperial gallons per day)

500

450
Jebel Ali RO plant ( 25 MIGD )
400

350 M-Station (140 MIGD )

300

250
L-Station ( 125 MIGD )
200

150
K-Station (60 MIGD)
150

100 G-Station ( 60 MIGD)

E-Station (25 MIGD)

50
D-Station (35 MIGD)
0 H-Station (0 MIGD)

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 75
Graph: Total water produced from 2009 to 2016 (Million Imperial Gallons)
140,000
Million Imperial Gallons

120,000

100,000

80,000

111,350
60,000

114,587
93,251
91,020

89,653

92,415

97,448

101,984
40,000

20.000

0
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

WATER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION

In 2016, we continued our successes in satisfactorily meeting the water needs of 100% of our
customers, reflecting our commitment to supply Dubai’s population with its basic needs. To ensure
that we never run short of water, we store water in our reservoirs to satisfy approximately 3 days of
peak demand. Water drawn from the reservoirs is distributed to our customers through a network of
pipes. We manage our water pipelines to minimise losses of water, for example through leakages or
unbilled meters, which we monitor using our Unaccounted for Water (UFW) metric. We are happy
to announce that, during 2016, our unaccounted for water was 8%. This was one of the lowest
worldwide, compared to approximately 11% in North America. This was an improvement of 47% with
respect to 2010.
This was possible due to launching a number of major projects to improve our water transmission
and distribution networks. For example, we used Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
to survey the water network and identify and remotely manage potential leaks in the system. It
provides high flexibility and enables fast decision making when managing the grid. In addition, we
are continuously looking to improve and adopt the latest and most efficient technologies. We have
adopted modern technology to scan the transmission and distribution networks to prevent cracks from
causing leaks in the system.
Graph: Annual Unaccounted For Water (UFW) as percentage of total water supplied

16
Percentage Of Unaccounted For Water

14
12

10
8
13.82
15.03

10.88

10.42

6
9.1

8.2

4
2
0
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SUSTAINABILITY
76 REPORT 2016
WATER QUALITY

WATER
The safety and quality of potable water is of the utmost importance to DEWA. It is our responsibility
to ensure that the quality of water from our production facilities meets our specifications, which are
even more stringent than the World Health Organisation’s Drinking Water Guidelines. Full compliance
is ensured through our integrated management system (IMS), which is certified by external auditors.
We monitor water quality across our network, collecting water samples from pumping stations,
reservoirs and well fields across Dubai. Samples are tested by portable equipment on site to measure
pH, turbidity, residual chlorine dioxide, and electrical conductivity, while the remaining sophisticated
testing is performed in DEWA’s central lab, to check conformance with DEWA’s specifications. DEWA
has also made great strides to ensure that our potable water is nearly 100% free from bromate.
Table: DEWA potable water specification with typical parameters

Component Unit WHO Guideline DEWA Targets DEWA JAPS

Values (Max) /Guidelines Potable Water
Specifications*

Calcium (mg/L) - 10 ~ 25 18.1

Magnesium (mg/L) - 2 ~ 20 4.1
Sodium (mg/L) 200 10 ~ 200 39.1
Chloride (mg/L) 250 25 ~ 250 68
Sulfate (mg/L) 250 2 ~ 35 8.1
Bicarbonate (mg/L) - 30 ~ 75 58.1
Nitrate (mg/L) 50 ≤ 50 0.087
Carbonate (mg/L) - 0 - 10 0.20
Fluoride (mg/L) 1.5 ≤ 1.5 0.037
Total Hardness (mg/L) 500 40 ~ 120 62.1
Total Dissolved
(mg/L) 1000 100 ~ 450 165
Solids

pH 6.5 ~ 8.5 7.9 ~ 8.5 8.30

*Note: DEWA JAPS typical figure is the average of individual station averages during the year 2016
It is estimated that roughly only 5% of water supplied to Dubai residents is used for drinking purposes,
while the remaining 95% is used for other purposes such as washing, cooking, gardening, district
cooling, soft drink production, and bottled water production. This is because, while water quality is
good to the meter, once water is stored in tanks in residences, it is generally not well maintained. This
water-quality problem can be rectified, at least in the short term, by having households fit water tap
filters. To raise awareness of this issue, DEWA has run public awareness campaigns and we now put
messages on household bills to emphasise the importance of tank cleaning and maintenance.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 77
WASTEWATER DISCHARGE MANAGEMENT

DEWA is responsible for managing the discharge process of wastewater generated from our desalination
and power production plants. In Dubai, Dubai Municipality is responsible for wastewater treatment. In
2016, our total volume of wastewater discharge was 5,140.96 million cubic meters: primarily processed
wastewater from our power and desalination plants, which is discharged to the Arabian Gulf. We also
produced smaller volumes of effluent from our water treatment plants (78,453 m3) and on-site
treated sewage effluent (231,032 m3), out of which 106,289 m3 was discharged to land for landscape
irrigation inside the premises and the remaining 124,743 m3 of treated sewage was discharged to the
sea along with other process wastewater. A total of 88.7% of the total wastewater (process wastewater
and treated sewage effluent) generated was re-used in the Jebel Ali Power Station Complex.

Table: Volume of wastewater discharge (million m3) by source 2016

Total volume (million m3)

Type of effluent
discharge

Process water from power plant 1,702.290391

Process water from desalination plant 3,438.360138
Water treatment plant effluent 0.078453
Treated sewage water (to land) 0.106289
Treated sewage water (to sea) 0.124743
Treated sewage water 0.231032
Wastewater discharged to sea and land 5,140.960014

Our desalination plants produce brine, a high saline water that remains after freshwater has been
extracted from the seawater. We recognise that brine outfall has the potential to impact the environment.
We monitor our wastewater discharges monthly and collaborate with regulators to make sure we
are within the permissible limits for wastewater discharge quantity and quality. We have installed a
continuous monitoring system to monitor the temperature, salinity, and pH and dissolved oxygen
at 500m, 1km and 1.5km away from the discharge points between D-Station and M-Station, for
which real time data accessibility was given to Dubai Municipality. Bimonthly and quarterly ecological
assessments (phytoplankton/zooplankton and macro benthos respectively) are also carried out at
300m and 1.5km away from the discharge points of D-Station, K-Station & L-Station, by a specialist
environmental service provider, as per the requirements of the wastewater discharge permit issued to
DEWA-JAPS by Dubai Municipality. Temperature and salinity difference between the mixing zone and
ambient seawater measured on monthly basis were within the maximum allowed limits of 5oC and
2ppt respectively.

SUSTAINABILITY
78 REPORT 2016
Graph: Temperature difference between the seawater at mixing zone and ambient seawater (°C) 2016

WATER
5.5

4.5

3.5
Temperature Difference

2.5

1.5
1.7

1.8

1.9

2.4

1.2

1.3

2.0

1.8
0.5

0
D-l D-ll
STATION STATION E STATION G STATION K STATION L STATION M STATION AVERAGE
Discharge Point
Maximum Temperature °C

Graph: Salinity difference between seawater at mixing zone and ambient seawater (ppt) 2016

5.5

4.5

3.5

Salinity Difference

2.5

1.5

0.5
0.7
0.8

0.7
0.7

0.8

1.0
0.5

0.4

0
D-l D-ll
STATION STATION E STATION G STATION K STATION L STATION M STATION AVERAGE
Discharge Point
Maximum Temperature °C

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 79
WASTE MANAGEMENT
DEWA has implemented an effective waste management system, with which we aim to reduce the
amount of solid and liquid waste we produce by using resources efficiently, and recycling or recovering
where possible. Our waste management system allows us to be completely compliant with all
relevant national and international regulations, policies, and procedures. We are also in the process of
benchmarking our waste management system with other organisations internationally.
To further ensure that all divisions within DEWA are adopting best practices for waste management,
our own environment department has conducted internal benchmarking since 2015. The benchmarking
compares how well different divisions manage their waste. It is used to identify best practices, innovative
ideas and highly-effective operating procedures within DEWA. Those practices are then implemented
across other divisions where applicable.
Reducing our waste not only minimises our environmental impact, but also generates cost savings. In
2016, we earned AED 4,063,158 from selling scrap waste materials from our Jebel Ali Power Station
Complex. An example of the business benefits of waste management is evident in our efforts to recycle
waste oils. In the Jebel Ali power station complex, used lubricant, transformer and hydraulic oils are
recycled for use in boiler furnaces when oil firing is required. Additionally, large amounts of insulation
oil are used in distribution equipment for insulation and cooling. By using recycled oil we are able to
significantly reduce our consumption of new oil and minimise waste (and the associated costs for
waste disposal). In 2016, we recovered 4,700 litres of oil for reuse. Wastewater is recovered from our
power stations and reused. During 2016, we recovered approximately 215.0MIG of wastewater.

Table: Waste Figures from the Jebel Ali power station complex, 2013-2016

Waste Figures Unit 2013 2014 2015 2016

General waste Tons

sent to landfill 1,534 1,599 2,038 1,386
Hazardous Tons
waste disposal 57.9 71.2 264 20.35
Wooden packing Cubic Foot 5,958 5,297 6,608 9,471
reused
Waste water MIG 209 266 183.4 215.0
recovered
Waste oil
recovered for use Litres 126,421 19,143 6,025 4,700
Revenue from scrap
/waste materials sold AED 1,396,910 830,020 960,146 4,063,158
Savings from
selling waste oil AED 513,538 228,771 161,866 53,851.2

SUSTAINABILITY
80 REPORT 2016
WHOLE WATER CYCLE APPROACH

WATER
At DEWA, we recognise that water production is both capital and energy intensive. Therefore, to
fulfil our vision and mission, we want to successfully contribute to achieve Dubai’s Demand Side
Management (DSM) target to reduce demand by 30% compared to the Business As Usual (BAU)
scenario by 2030. The overall demand side management initiatives at Dubai level have succeeded in
achieving about 3.5 BIG of water reduction in 2016. In addition, the annual per capita consumption for
water has been reduced to 36,391 IG in 2016 instead of BAU figure of 37,656 IG.
We are continuously improving our efficiency to minimise water losses as much as possible in our
supply, transmission, and distribution operations.
We believe that advances in water production and treatment technology, combined with more integrated
water resource management, will be an essential prerequisite for sustainable development in the Gulf
region. We see water within the system wide context of the whole water cycle and believe that Dubai
will need to employ more holistic approaches to water management to meet future water resource
challenges.

CUSTOMER WATER USE

DEWA has implemented various initiatives to promote water conservation to its customers which
include the Best Consumer Award, the Conservation Award, neighbourhood campaigns and the
Ideal Home initiative. Each year, DEWA organises events for the United Nations World Water Day in
collaboration with Dubai Municipality and other community organisations, to raise awareness about
water efficiency. DEWA is also working to help its customers conserve their electricity consumption
within their buildings, by providing an energy-auditing service free of charge.
DEWA introduced a slab tariff structure in 2008 and a surcharge component in 2011. In the slab
structure, tariff rates change depending on the volume of water consumed and this involves a driver for
conservation. DEWA has begun to implement, as part of Smart Grid initiative, its smart networks and
meters project, through which all mechanical and electromechanical meters are replaced with state-of­
the-art smart meters. The smart meters are part of a bidirectional digital communications system that
can automatically send data to DEWA. The meters will also provide customers with detailed information
on their consumption, so they can identify the best ways to reduce both water and electricity use and
reduce their bills as well. We believe that we can work more closely with our customers to help them
identify opportunities for reusing, recycling, and reducing water within their own processes.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 81
CASE STUDY:
EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT AND ENERGY
OPTIMISATION OF PUMPS
As part of our strategic initiative to improve plant efficiency, we have initiated energy optimisation
on pumps through efficiency improvement programmes. During the design phase of the project,
the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) normally assumes a design-safety margin in pump
performance parameters, to take care of the eventual degradation of pump and process equipment
over the course of time. Due to better maintenance practices of pumps followed in our plants, the
actual reduction in performance due to degradation is significantly less than the original design margin.
This provided an opportunity to revisit the original design, to reduce the design margins to the actual
requirements, making savings in energy consumption. Additionally, the advent of modern technologies
in hydraulic designs of pumps provides an opportunity for reducing the energy consumption.
Following a study of old large pumps, considering the importance of various pump, size, age, and
opportunity to improve on other aspects, we shortlisted Brine Circulation Pumps at G-Ph1 desalination
units as candidate pumps for energy optimisation. After conducting necessary feasibility studies to
ensure the viability of the initiative, we concluded that the pump’s efficiency can be increased to 89%
from its operating efficiency of 79% at a 65-metre operating differential head at the same discharge
flow of 6,840 m3/hr. With the target of the pump efficiency to 89%, the expected motor output power
calculated to be 1,414 kW compared to the actual 1,595 kW.
Since the start of the project in late 2014, we have completed modifications on 10 pumps out of 16
installed pumps. All the results so far match or exceed our projections. The project will increase power
station efficiency through partial compensation of station auxiliary power consumption. Moreover,
the project meets our strategic objective of reducing our environmental footprint by achieving a
reduction in power consumption of 24,192 MWh/year corresponding to a reduction in CO2 emissions
by approximately 10,500 Tons/year during the remaining 20 years’ life of the plant.

SUSTAINABILITY
82 REPORT 2016
CASE STUDY:
MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM

WATER
GLOBAL WATER AWARD

UAE Water Aid Foundation, Suqia, is an entity under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, and a non-profit organisation that provides humanitarian
aid around the world and helps communities that suffer from water scarcity by providing them with
potable water. Suqia has positively influenced the lives of over 8 million people in 19 countries up to
the end of 2016. Suqia has been annexed to DEWA, to support the Foundation with any budget and

operational requirements needed.

Tying in with the UAE’s goal to become a knowledge-based economy with a strong focus on technology,

R&D and innovation, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime

Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the launch of a USD 1 million global award to find
sustainable solutions to water scarcity across the world.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award supports this goal, encouraging leading
corporations, research centres, institutions and innovators from across the world to compete to
find sustainable and innovative solar-energy solutions to the problem of water scarcity. The award
is comprised of three categories: Innovative Projects Award, Innovative Research & Development
Award, and Innovative Youth Award. The Innovative Projects Award and the Innovative Research &
Development Award are further divided into two subcategories each.
The first cycle of the award was announced in February 2016 and it became open for applications on
22 March 2016 coinciding with World Water Day. Supported by DEWA, the first cycle of the Award
was promoted through international and national roadshows including in the US at the UN General
Assembly in NY, France in COP21, as well as the WETEX & Solar Show Roadshow in Holland, India,

United Kingdom, China and Russia.

A total of 138 applications were received from 43 countries. The winners were announced at the Award

ceremony that took place on 27 April 2017, at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the presence of H.H
Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, where he honoured
10 winners from 8 countries.
SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 83
CUSTOMERS

In 2016, we served 752,505 electricity customers and

666,006 water customers.

1st in MENA, and 4th internationally as per World

Bank’s ranking of the UAE (represented by DEWA)
for “ease of access” to electricity in the World Bank
Doing Business Report 2017, for the fourth
consecutive year.

In 2016, Customer Minutes Lost from unplanned

outages was 3.28 minutes, compared with
approximately over 14 minutes recorded by
counterparts in Europe and the US.
MANAGEMENT APPROACH
Anticipating our customers’ needs and exceeding their expectations is one of DEWA’s major objectives
that has been incorporated into DEWA’s overall mission, vision, core values and strategy. Being the
sole provider of water and electricity for the Emirate of Dubai, we ensure the continuous delivery of
high-quality water and efficient power for residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers all
year round. Providing a sustained innovative service is our main goal, to achieve our vision to become a
sustainable innovative world-class utility.
We commit ourselves to delivering customer happiness in everything we do through three key areas:
1- Excellence in customer service
• Improving the quality and speed of our customer interactions
• Listening and responding to customer feedback, needs and expectations.

2- Smart technology for more effective customer service

• Providing our customers with accurate, comparable and timely information through e-services
and smart services
• Investing in intelligent metering

3- Access to electricity and water services

• Ensuring easier connections
• Providing access to services for customers with language barriers and physical challenges

DEWA’S CUSTOMERS
DEWA’s customer base continues to grow effectively to meet the growing demands of the increasing
population and economy in Dubai. It sets high standards to exceed customers’ satisfaction in the
development of the city.

Total Electricity Customers: 752,505 Total Water Customers: 666,006

557
i d e ntial ,121 dential 539
,359
Re s
74.03% Resi
80.98%

rcial 185,31 rcial 122,88

Comme 3 24.63% Comme 8 18.45%

Industrial 2,777 0.37% Industrial 1,447 0.22%

Governmental 6,408 0.85% Governmental 0.30%

1965

0.12% 0.05%
Exempte Exempte
d 886 d 347

SUSTAINABILITY
86 REPORT 2016
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

CUSTOMERS
Seeking to always stay up to date with the latest technological advancements and to further enhance
efficiency in all its operations, DEWA continues to be one of the leaders worldwide in system availability,
sustainability, and reliability.
In 2016, with respect to 2006, we achieved a 25.47% improvement in efficiency, primarily by optimising
the design and operation of power and water plants. Our transmission line availability is typically above
99.9%. Our operational management approaches adhere to our Integrated Management System (IMS),
which complies with internationally recognised standards for health, safety, environment and quality
(ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001). Our business divisions know how to operate to meet
DEWA’s expectations for operational excellence. To measure our performance in supplying power, we
look at three key indicators: System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), Customer Minutes
Lost (CML) and Availability Factor (AF). The SAIFI measures the average number of interruptions
experienced by each customer over one year. In 2016, our SAIFI was approximately 0.11, continuing
the downward trend since 2009.

In addition, CML (Customer Minutes Lost) measures our ability to restore power during unplanned
outages (in emergencies). During 2016, our CML from unplanned outages was 3.28 minutes, which
exceeded our target of 3.75 minutes, compared with approximately over 14 minutes recorded by
counterparts in Europe and the US. Finally, the availability factor (AF) is a measure of the percentage
of time that our plants are available to produce power. Power availability is especially important during
the summer months, when the demand for electricity increases. We are proud to announce that, during
2016, our availability factor was 97.39% for the summer period, while our overall availability factor for
2016 was 85.94% due to maintenance conducted during the winter period.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 87
Graph: System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) Target and Actual, 2016

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
SAIFI

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Actual Target

Graph: CML unplanned, Target and Actual, 2016

25
20

CML

15
10
5
0
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Actual Target

Table: Availability Factor (summer), Target and Actual, 2016

Availability Factor Availability Factor

Year (summer) Target (summer) Actual
2009 98.00% 98.75%
2010 98.00% 98.70%
2011 98.00% 98.15%
2012 98.00% 95.63%
2013 98.00% 98.14%
2014 98.00% 99.23%
2015 98.00% 98.61%
2016 98.00% 97.39%

SUSTAINABILITY
88 REPORT 2016
SMART INITIATIVES

CUSTOMERS
The Smart Dubai Initiative, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President
and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aims to make Dubai the happiest and smartest city
in the world. In DEWA, we continuously seek to enhance the efficiency of our systems by incorporating
smart services in all our operations for a sustainable service and happier customers. We have also
developed a comprehensive strategy to implement smart water and electricity infrastructure, which
will provide advanced features and include automated decision-making and interoperability across the
entire electricity and water network.
The Smart Grid strategy defines eleven programmes that will be completed over the short, medium and
long term (2014-2035):

1 Advanced Metering Infrastructure for Electricity

2 Advanced Metering Infrastructure for Water

3 Asset Management

4 Demand Response

5 Distribution Automation

6 Information Technology Infrastructure

7 Substation Automation

8 System Integration

9 Telecommunication

10 Big Data and Analytics

11 Security

DEWA has also launched three smart initiatives to support the Smart Dubai initiative:

3 Smart Initiatives

DEWA

Infrastructure And Electric 3 Smart Application Via 2 Connecting Solar Energy 1

Vehicles Charging Stations Smart Grid And Meters To Houses And Buildings

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 89
First initiative – “Shams Dubai”
DEWA launched “Shams Dubai” in adherence with the Smart Dubai initiative, to transform Dubai
into an innovative model for smart cities seeking global sustainability and competitiveness.“Shams Dubai”
encourages building owners to install photovoltaic panels on their rooftops to generate electricity from
solar power. The electricity is used onsite and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s grid. An offset between
exported and imported electricity units is conducted and the customer account is settled based on
this offset. DEWA’s “Shams Dubai” initiative in 2016 resulted in 296 buildings being installed with
photovoltaic arrays. Apart from projects initiated by our customers, we are also installing solar panels
at selected DEWA premises, and also sponsoring a number of projects for other Dubai Government
bodies to show our commitment to this initiative, and to ensure cooperation and mutual support on
sustainability.
DEWA also provides regular Solar Photovoltaic Certification Training sessions and has an enrolment
scheme for consultants and contractors. This is to ensure that they comply with its high standards of
quality and safety, and only engage qualified professionals in solar photovoltaic work and projects.
By the end of 2016, 50 solar photovoltaic consulting and contracting companies had enrolled with
DEWA, employing 242 solar photovoltaic professionals who are trained and certified by DEWA. This
shows how “Shams Dubai” is contributing to the creation of green jobs in the Emirate. At least 60
photovoltaic panel manufacturers and 10 inverter manufacturers have registered under the DEWA
solar photovoltaic equipment eligibility scheme, creating a competitive equipment market with clear
benefits for our customers.

Second initiative – Smart Applications via Smart Grid and Meters

Smart Applications through Smart Meters and Grids provide various benefits and new applications to
our customers, enabling them to have an automatic and detailed reading of their consumption, both
current and historical. The data obtained through these readings will be available to our customers
to monitor their actual consumption for a specific period of time, to ensure a more sustainable
consumption. Smart meters help find solutions to reduce the consumption of electricity and water,
and will be able to send accumulated data via sophisticated means of communication, while at the
same time providing a full history of consumption and its processes. DEWA successfully installed over
200,000 Smart Electricity and Water Meters by January 2016, and over 1,200,000 Smart Electricity
and Water Meters will be installed by 2020.

SUSTAINABILITY
90 REPORT 2016
Third initiative –Green Charger

CUSTOMERS
Through this initiative, DEWA aims to encourage people to use sustainable transportation of hybrid
and electric vehicles and to help reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector, which is the second
highest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Dubai. Starting from 2015 and till the end of
2016, DEWA has successfully installed 100 electric charging stations in different areas in Dubai such
as shopping malls, airports, commercial offices, residential complexes, gas stations, government offices,
and residential establishments, as part of the Green Charger initiative. DEWA will double its electric
vehicles charging stations across Dubai to 200 in 2018 to complete the second phase of the Green
Charger initiative.

E-SERVICES FOR CUSTOMERS

Acknowledging that time is precious, at DEWA we ensure that all our services make our customers’
life easier and comfortable. DEWA’s smart mobile application have also added various options to our
stakeholders, enabling them to apply for Clearance Certificate, Move in requests and many more,
making activation of services and tracking of requests only a single tap away. In 2016, DEWA has also
announced a new bill payment channel, called “Tayseer”, allowing customers to deposit cheques using
any Emirates NBD machines, for a smarter and more convenient way to pay bills.
DEWA has also launched a Smart Centre as part of the Customer Happiness Centre, which has
contributed to achieve remarkable results with growth in smart adoption increasing from 63.7%
in 2015 to 70.37% in 2016. DEWA’s overall customer trust increased from 88% to 94%, and the
customer happiness index also increased from 84% to 96% respectively. DEWA’s Smart Centre results
reflect its efforts to implement the directives of the wise leadership, to improve government work, the
UAE vision 2021, and the Dubai Plan 2021, to ensure the UAE’s Government is proactive with meeting
the needs of the community. The following are the list of services we provide:

14 Customer Happiness Centres Green Bill

To facilitate customer convenience our For a fast, secure and eco friendly monthly
centres are available and spread all over consumption bill sent to the customer's
Dubai. registered email.

E-Complain Multiple Ways to Pay

In pursuit of organisation excellence addressing To provide added convenience to customers,
customer concerns is paramount to DEWA. multiple methods of payment were developed.

24/7 Customer Care Centre Mobile Services

Our customers can contact us with their queries With our smart applications available customers
about DEWA's services. can efficiently transact; do business with
DEWA
E-Suggest Smart Services
It is a unified, decentralised electronic channel The gateway through the dewa portal,
and system for DEWA to efficiently handle and www.dewa.gov.ae for customers and stakeholder
process all suggestions received from customers. to enjoy a variety of general, customer and
business-related services
“Rammas”
DEWA has recently launched its artificial intelligence Chatbot, called “Rammas”, and incorporated it
within its official webpage and on Facebook, to be the first public organisation to use an artificial
intelligence platform to engage in real-time text conversations with its customers and answer their
enquiries interactively. “Rammas” provides an innovative form of service delivery. It can accommodate a
huge amount of data simultaneously, search for customers’ records to find what they need, and answer
their queries promptly and accurately. The service automatically adapts and updates to keep up with
different customer requests and changes in the nature of queries and DEWA’s services. This increases
the service’s efficiency and makes it easier for customers to get the requested service and make them happier.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 91
PROVIDING ACCESS TO PEOPLE OF DETERMINATION

In 2016, DEWA renovated all its buildings and facilities to be friendly to people of determination, the
respectful title assigned by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime
Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for people with disabilities and special needs.The standards
followed were in accordance with those set by Dubai Municipality and the best international practices,
including the United Nations’ Americans with Disabilities Act, the British Standard BSI 8300, and
the British Building Regulations 2010 – Part M. Facilities were also designed and equipped such that
people of determination can be evacuated easily in cases of emergency, attaining a matching score of
up to 97% in 2016, aiming for 100% by 2017.
DEWA also implements various services to increase the accessibility to its products and services. For
our visually-impaired customers, we provide Braille versions of our Customer Guide Booklet created
in coordination with the Emirates Association for the Blind. For our hearing-impaired customers, we
have staff proficient in sign language at our Customer Happiness Centres, to aid them with all their
requirements. Moreover, our “Ash’ir” (Arabic for to signal), live video chat service enables customers to
communicate directly with DEWA staff using sign language, a first for a government organisation in
the UAE. The service is available on DEWA’s smart app, which won the Mobile Applications Excellence
Award at the 20th Middle East eGovernment and eServices Awards in 2015, offering over 150 services
and features around the clock.
For our elderly customers, we are participating in the Community Development Authority’s “Thukher”
card programme, a discount programme for older Emiratis aged 60 and above in recognition of their
contribution and their active role in building society and “Sanad” for customers with disabilities. Card­
holders have access to wheelchair assistance at designated counters to better enjoy DEWA services.
To meet the needs of customers with different cultural backgrounds, we print our communication
materials in Arabic and English. In addition to this, we recruit employees who are able to deliver the
services in different languages such as Farsi, Urdu, Chinese, French and many others.

SUSTAINABILITY
92 REPORT 2016
EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

CUSTOMERS
DEWA puts customer service excellence at its heart of the organisation and we have attained several
awards in 2016 for this. DEWA won the majority of International Business Stevie Awards 2016 for
excellence in its smart services and has also received the highest grade in The International Standard
for Service (TISSE 2012) certification from The International Customer Service Institute (TICSCI)
after 7 of its centres received a five-star marked with a score of 96.6%, the highest score to date, for
making its customers happy. DEWA has also obtained the ISO 10001:2007 for Quality Management
in Customer Satisfaction and Codes of Conduct for Organisations, the ISO 10002:2004 for Quality
Management in Complaints Handling Process, and the ISO 10004:2012 for Quality Management in
Monitoring and Customer Satisfaction.
DEWA also launched the fifth phase of its ‘Beyond Customers Expectations Programme’, to provide
customers with services that exceed their expectations. This provides staff with a comprehensive
framework to ensure the highest quality standards in service provision and customer happiness for 134
employees from various Customer Happiness Division’s departments and sections. The programme
promotes happiness through refined customer skills, while instilling a culture of customer happiness
among employees, to improve the quality of services provided. It also focuses on ways to deal with
customers both professionally and efficiently, and to effectively provide services as quickly as possible,
as well as enhance teamwork and communication strategies. Once completed, participants will undergo
an examination to attain credit for the Certified Business Professional (CBP).
DEWA’s initiatives have managed to reduce customers’ complaints by more than 45% in 2016 when
compared to 2012. The Customer Complaint Unit has also managed, in 2016, to resolve 96% of the
complaints received within 3 working days.

CUSTOMER HAPPINESS
Supporting the directives of the wise leadership to achieve the UAE vision 2021, DEWA has adopted
innovation within its vision and incorporated it within 40% of its strategy, to ensure the ease of access
to services and happiness of all its stakeholders.
DEWA’s Customer Care Centre is also available to answer all of our customers’ enquiries. In 2016, our
Customer Care Centre has received over 1.35 million calls, 48% of which were handled by Interactive
Voice Response System (IVR), enabling our customers to make use of our services smartly and
efficiently (Self-Service). DEWA’s Call Centre, the Customer Care Centre’s Service Star has also handled
718,242 calls professionally achieving 6 second Alert Time, thus recording an 85% at Service Quality
Level. We have also received over 117,000 emails from different customers with varying requests
and requirements achieving an overall handling satisfaction of 91%. In addition, we have received
21,282 Online Chats through “Hayak” Service, which is an online Text, Video & Audio chat system.
Furthermore, “Ash’ir” Service has received over 782 video chats from our customers with disabilities
(hearing difficulties). DEWA’s Customer Care Centre operates 24/7, with a variety of touch points
meeting customers’ needs. These include:
Customer & Billing Calls Emergency & Technical “Ash’ir” Service
through 046019999 Calls through 991

“Hayak” Service Self-service through Emails through

Interaction Voice Response customercare@dewa.gov.ae

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 93
We also gain feedback from the annual Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP) customer
studies which results in a “Customer Happiness Index” for DEWA. We conduct annual customer
happiness surveys such as: a daily customer happiness index, mystery shopper studies (Direct
Interaction & Mystery Calling), People of determination study, Customer Experience Study, Key Account
Management (KAM) Study, in addition to customer complaints and suggestions to identify our current
and future customers’ needs and expectations and to improve DEWA’s customer experience. For 2016,
we also achieved 95.2% on the DGEP Customer Happiness Index results and obtained 96.5% on
DEWA Customer Happiness Index. We will continue to engage our customers to continually improve
our services for Dubai’s residents and our other customers. Our customer happiness surveys are not
just about ratings. We also gather feedback from customers on how we can improve our services
/ processes. Based on previous customer feedback, we have increased our focus on improving our
turnaround times in responding to information requests, customer complaints and queries, improving
the accessibility of information regarding our service offerings, and improving our transparency in our
communications to our customers.

Graph: DGEP CHI for 2012-2016

DGEP Customer Happiness Index

100.0%
90.0%
95.7%

95.2%
94.3%

94.4%

80.0%
89.1%

70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Graph: DEWA CHI for 2012-2016

DEWA Customer Happiness Index

100.0%
90.0%
96.5%
92.09%

80.0%
91.55%
91.4%
91.2%

70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

SUSTAINABILITY
94 REPORT 2016
CASE STUDY:

CUSTOMERS
IDEAL HOME

Ideal Home is a pioneering and integrated public initiative launched in 2016 by DEWA. The service was
designed and developed in cooperation with, and support from, 7 government bodies. The overriding
goal of the initiative is to inform customers of the participating organisations about possible best prac­
tices for a home environment that will be ideal for the sustainable development of society.
The initiative is intended to instil and nurture a culture of an ideal home environment amongst families
in Dubai, based on meeting the integrated requirements of eight government partners, by identifying
and recognising the households that achieve highest standards of sustainability, health and safety,
security, environment, social responsibility and smart adoption.
The concerted efforts of all the participating government organisations of the Ideal Home initiative
achieved 100% in Customer Satisfaction and Trust Level. The overall awareness levels of the thematic
messaging, before and after the implementation of the initiative, improved from 77.78% to 87%.
The objectives of the Ideal Home initiative are:
• Raise, promote and enhance customer awareness and engagement levels about the best practices
at homes on matters of sustainability, health and safety, security, environment, social responsibility
and smart adoption.
• Achieve highest standards in sustainable living by making it an embedded culture within households.
• Enhance efficiency levels by maximising partnership opportunities for the purpose of provisioning
unified government services.
• Enable and provide for customer happiness through innovative services.
• Support government vision, effectively.
The Ideal Home initiative has managed to provide an efficient solution and a joint-service to our customers
and the whole society succeeding to encourage sustainable households only with 3 steps, compared to 15
prior to the service launch and implementation. The new customer-journey turnaround time now is 3
months compared to 15 months and 11 days prior to the launch of the initiative. Customers now no
longer have to deal separately with 8 public bodies to have a sustainable and efficient house, they can
now just directly access DEWA’s integrated joint-service, Ideal Home.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 95

GENERAL DIRECTORATE  DIRECTORATE  ROAD &

EMPLOYEES

Awarded British Safety Council Sword of Honour in

Health and Safety for the sixth consecutive year
during 2016.

75.42% decrease in accident incident ratio between

2009-2016.
MANAGEMENT APPROACH
In our drive to be the best employer of choice in Dubai, we firmly believe that we have a responsibility
to support our employees in performing their jobs effectively and efficiently by providing them with
a healthy and positive environment at work. Our leadership and management are committed to the
development of our people and have launched multiple Employee Relations Programmes that allow our
staff to be heard and recognised. Since 2009, we have achieved certification to the Social Accountability
International SA8000 Standard, which is one of the world’s first auditable social certification standards
for decent workplaces based on conventions of the International Labour Organisation, United Nations,
and National Law. The standard helps guide our operations to protect and empower all personnel
within DEWA’s scope of control and influence. That includes our employees and the employees of our
suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors. At DEWA, we continually strive to understand and respond
to our employees’ needs and expectations, which include employee welfare, reward, development,
security, happiness and positive work environment.
The key pillars of our approach to managing our workforce are:

Training & Employee

Development Happiness

Employee Employee Promoting

Benefits Health & Emiratisation
Safety

A WORLD-CLASS WORKFORCE
In 2016, our total number of employees was 11,485 people, which makes us one of Dubai’s largest
employers. Our organisation is an important hub for engineers in the region. Engineering in its different
fields is considered a high value-added activity and an important source of innovation to DEWA. We
also recruit people in other highly qualified positions in various fields including management, business
modelling and finance. Our people hold a wide range of talents and skills, and we are devoted to
provide training and development opportunities and enriching their skills and career path. To ensure
the sustainability of our organisation, we are also taking the necessary measures to monitor the retiring
rate of our employees so as to be able to replace their specialised proficiency with trained new joiners.

Table: Total number of employees by employment contract (permanent and temporary), region, 2016

Contract Africa Asia Europe Middle East N. America Oceania S. America Total
Permanent 172 7,351 56 3,677 27 7 2 11,292
Temporary 10 160 - 23 - - - 193
Grand Total 182 7,511 56 3,700 27 7 2 11,485

Contract Female Male Total

Permanent 1,824 9,468 11,292
Temporary 37 156 193
Grand Total 1,861 9,624 11,485

SUSTAINABILITY
98 REPORT 2016
Table: New employee hires by age group, Table: Employee turnover by age group,

EMPLOYEES
gender, and region, 2016 gender, and region, 2016

New employee hires 2016* Employee turnover 2016**

Category Number of New Hires Category Number of employees
By Age Age
Under 30 515 Under 30 39
30-50 400 30-50 182
Over 50 7 Over 50 25
By Gender Gender
Female 206 Female 39
Male 716 Male 207
By Region Region
Africa 10 Africa 3
Asia 406 Asia 156
Europe 13 Europe 4
South America 1 Middle East 83
North America 7 Grand Total 246
Oceania 1
Middle East 484 *Special contracts category has been included in 2016 calculations.

Total 922 **Special contracts category has not been included in 2016
calculations.

Table: Percentage of employees eligible to retire in the next 5 and 10 years broken down by job
category and by region, 2016
Retirement after 5 years
Region Grand Total
Leadership Management Non-supervisory
Africa 1 7 6 14
Asia 2 76 394 472
Europe 1 5 1 7
Middle East 6 18 36 60
North America ­ - 1 1
Oceania 1 - - 1
Grand Total 11 106 438 555

Retirement after 10 years

Region Grand Total
Leadership Management Non-supervisory
Africa 1 9 10 20
Asia 2 168 932 1102
Europe 2 12 1 15
Middle East 13 65 82 160
North America 1 1 - 2
Oceania - 1 2 3
Grand Total 19 256 1,027 1,302

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 99
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Aiming to be a workplace with world-class standards requires us to consider how we reward our people
fairly and generously and in line with their performance. To ensure that, our Personnel Committee
reviews employee performance appraisals, promotions, salary increments and other personnel matters.
We also review and analyse job roles, matching them with people that have the talents, skills and
academic qualifications to fill the job requirements. Remuneration as per DEWA policies is based on the
grade/position of the employees and not their gender. As a result, there is no difference between male
and female employees. To sustain a positive, healthy and happy work environment, and to strengthen
the engagement and the performance of our people, we offer our full-time employees an extensive range
of benefits listed below including medical insurance, various leaves, allowances, and accommodation
entitlement.

Allowances Bonus

Overtime Flight tickets

Medical Insurance Final Settlement

Accommodation Entitlement Children Education Fees

Leaves (special, accident, condolence, sick, maternity/paternity,

study/exam, “Hajj”(pilgrimage), “Idda”, etc.)

DEWA ensures that our employee’s benefits plans are in line with our main strategy. We have also
introduced other initiatives that benefits the employees too:

• “Al Khair” Fund: This fund is open only to DEWA employees and was launched in 2009 to provide
financial support in case of emergencies. In 2016, we were able to provide more than AED 4 million
to help approximately 397 of our employees during their times of need.

• “Waffer” Programme: The programme provides competitive offers and discounts for DEWA staff
for various shops, hotels, and other services.
• Excellence Award & Recognition Programmes: This aims to appreciate and reward the employees
(individual or groups) who have excelled in their achievements.

To further support our world-class workforce, our employees are entitled to parental leaves. In 2016,
386 of our employees availed parental leaves. 100% of these employees resumed working after their
parental leave ended, which shows that we facilitate and ensure our employees’ welfare.

SUSTAINABILITY
100 REPORT 2016
Table: Employee Parental Leave and Resumed Duty, 2016

EMPLOYEES
Leave Type Availed Leave Resumed Duty Percentage
Paternity Leave 386 386 100%
Maternity Leave 194 152 78.35%
Total 580 538 92.76%

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

Our main focus being the growth and development of our people, in DEWA, we continuously support
learning and development of leadership and employee skills through robust training programmes.
Since 2010, we have witnessed a steady increase in average leadership training hours, manager training
hours and non-supervisory employee training hours.
To further develop and retain our world-class workforce, we provide all possible support to our
employees in order to improve their talents and skills, and strengthen social cohesion. As a result,
we run a career development and succession-planning programme. In 2016, we also developed and
updated our technical and behavioural competency frameworks. Succession management is equally
critical in order for us to ensure continuity, retain and develop knowledge and intellectual capital for the
future and encourage individual employee growth and development.

Table: Average Training Hours by Category, 2016

Average training hours by category 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Leadership 39.8 70.6 71.89 78.18 99.38 97.00 97.23
Management 39.02 47.22 43.85 44.76 52.13 51.37 51.40
Non-supervisory 31.94 30.02 24.44 33.51 32.87 32.54 33.39

Average Training Hours by Gender, 2016

Female 52.03

Male 20.69

CAREER DEVELOPMENT
At DEWA, we continuously seek to promote our workforce and hire talented and motivated employees
who can contribute to the success of our organisation. DEWA is committed to both the personal
and professional development of our employees. From job-focused trainings to general management
trainings, our employees have the opportunity to further develop their careers. DEWA also conducts
competency based programmes and trainings for skill management and lifelong learning based on 9
Behavioural Competencies. These were determined through an Assessment and Development Centre
conducted for 887 employees based on their proficiency levels in 2014. We are currently building in-
house capabilities to handle the next cycle, as a project cycle is from 18 months to 3 years. Performance
appraisal is equally important, as it helps us evaluate in a systematic manner the performance of the
employees, while also allowing us to better understand their abilities for the purpose of further growth
and development.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 101
EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY

The health and safety of our people is our leading priority. As it is DEWA’s duty to provide a safe and
healthy workplace for its people, we have been developing a safe and healthy culture by applying international
best practice standards in relation to health and safety management. The Health and Safety Department
is an essential part of DEWA’s organisation and handles a wide range of functions in safety, health and
security of our employees, suppliers and contractors.

DEWA is ISO-9001, ISO-14001 and OHSAS-18001 certified, enabling continuous improvement

and management of our systems.

DEWA has maintained the British Safety Council’s Health and Safety Management 5 star certification
since 2002. Those that achieve the certification can then compete for the Sword of Honour award,
which DEWA has been awarded for the sixth consecutive year during 2016. We are proud to be
the first utility in the MENA region to achieve this award. We have also been awarded the British
Safety Council’s Globe of Honour for environment for the fifth year in 2016.

We have a Risk Management Policy, in compliance with ISO-31000, which governs our activities
and ensures that an appropriate assessment of risks (including health and safety risks) are considered
prior to the approval of major activities, projects and changes to our business.

We also maintain quality control procedures for the purchase of any procurement irrespective of
value.

DEWA’s Health & Safety Committee involves representatives from DEWA and is headed by the EVP
of Business Support & Human Resources. The committee plays a vital role in preventing work-related
injuries and accidents in all our divisions and maintaining occupational health and safety procedures
in the workplace as per the procedure (IMSP01-16) with assigned KPIs that have Target Achievement
Levels (%TAL) apart from actual ones that make it more robust/powerful. It also ensures that measures
to assist and retain health and safety rules, standards and procedures are carried out. The committee
representatives meet at least once a month for high-risk departments, every two months for medium
risk departments, and at least quarterly or when it is required for low risk departments.
We have an obligation to our contractors, subcontractors and vendors, and we comply with OHSAS
18001 and 18002 to ensure that health & safety measures are observed. In addition to this, our
dedicated SP06 Health & Safety Procedure for Contractors & Consultants is also in place, and to raise
safety awareness amongst our contractors, we have launched a Health and Safety Week as part of
DEWA’s strategy to enhance HSE and sustainability standards. Since 2011, we have also organised a
Health & Safety Awareness Day for employees, contractors and consultants on an annual basis. We
regularly audit our operations to assess how well we are performing to health and safety requirements.
To track our health and safety performance, we monitor indicators of safety at a strategic level and set
ourselves targets to drive continuous improvement. One of the key indicators of our safety performance
is the Accident/Incident Ratio (AIR). DEWA recorded an AIR incident rate of 145 in 2016, compared
to 615 in 2009, an improvement of nearly 75% comparing the 2009 with the 2016 result . We are
also pleased to state that we suffered no work-related fatalities during 2016.

SUSTAINABILITY
102
REPORT 2016
Graph: Percentage of reduced Accident/Incident Ratio (AIR),(2009-2016)

EMPLOYEES
700
Accident / Incident Ratio

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Actual Target

Note: (Number of RIDDOR Accidents x 100000 / Total number of staff)

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 103
EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS
Our management has always encouraged spreading happiness and positivity among the work
environment that is reflected on our people, work, and stakeholders. During 2014 we launched our
Happiness Department to support our strategic objective and goals to achieve the happiness of all our
stakeholders, including our employees. Our goal is to drive our people to adopt healthier and happier
practices that ensure the continuity of the productivity of our organisation. Our happiness guiding
principles revolve around our employees and they focus on satisfaction, happiness, and engagement.
For that reason, we conduct surveys regularly to measure our employees’ satisfaction regarding
different work scope on the authority’s level. Our happiness model consists of five main happiness indices
which are: Job and Financial Security, Job Compatibility and Employee Development, Work-Life
Balance and Health, Respect, Appreciation & Creative / Engaging Work Environment, and Fairness
and Transparency.

Job & Financial Security

Fairness & Transparency Job Compatibility & Employee

t Development
rus Pr
la T i
de
ion

wit
isat

h Jo
Organ

Employee
b

Happiness

Respect, Appreciation & Creative Po sitiv E n e r g y Work - Life Balance & Health
e
/ Engaging Work Environment

Our employee happiness and engagement initiatives are keys to achieving a sustainable, productive,
stimulating and collaborative work environment. The Employees Happiness Survey is one of our tools
to understand and meet our people’s expectations.
We continuously encourage our employees to participate in the survey to help us improve the identified and
prioritised areas they acknowledge through the survey. In 2016, our overall happiness score reached
81.15%. The results of this study are used to benchmark and realign DEWA’s initiatives to meet
employees’ expectations. To support and improve the physical working environment of our people, we
have introduced the Happiness Lounge and Creativity Rooms to promote and encourage a positive
work environment. The Happiness Lounge, located at our Head Office and Creativity Rooms at Al
Warsan provide a selection of services from online booking for workshops and brain storming sessions
to various activities, which encourage our employees to excel in a positive and high-quality work
environment.

SUSTAINABILITY
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REPORT 2016
DEWA also launched a “Breathe Easy” initiative that encourages our employees to adopt exercise routines

EMPLOYEES
to ease pressure from work and maintain a healthy lifestyle. A total of 2,020 of DEWA staff took part
on the initiative during July 2016. We also conducted “The Stress Survey” via email to have a clear
understanding of our employees’ feedback on their work environment. The stress survey aims to measure
the amount of pressure the work environment puts on the employees. Adding to that, it is useful in
understanding the difficulties and obstacles challenging our staff. The results from 994 employees
showed that a large number of employees do not suffer from any form of stress at work. Other initiatives
that aims to create a happier environment for employees are listed below:
• Happiness Garden: In celebration of the International Happiness Day that takes place on the 20th
of March, DEWA initiated the Happiness Garden that features various activities to promote the
happiness of our employees and customers including the happiness café, the happiness lounge and
station, and the reading corner, as well as distributing roses and gifts to the staff to promote positivity,
ambition, and optimism among our people.
• Happiness Basket: Promoting the happiness culture and philosophy among the employees by
distributing cards containing positive statements among our employees.
• “Estisharati” (Employee Assistance Programme): The Happiness Department conducts various
employee counselling sessions to support and meet the demands of the employees and workplace.
Such sessions include the Employee Assistance Programme that includes circulating Stress Test
Surveys among the employees, Conducting Stress Management workshops and individual counselling
sessions.
DEWA is a government entity aligned with Dubai Government and regulations. Therefore, with regards
to significant operational changes affecting our employees, while a specific notice period is not included
in our standard employment contract, a sufficient notice period has historically been given when significant
operational changes have been implemented. We also aim to create an environment that supports our
employees’ lifestyles. Part of this is achieved by encouraging gender diversity in our workforce. We have
put the following initiatives in place for this purpose:
• Women’s Committee: The Committee encourages women expanding their creative roles and supports
women’s insights into decision making to increase DEWA’s female employee satisfaction.
• DEWA Child Care Centres: Our Child Care Centres, located in the Head Office, Al Quoz and Al
Warsan were created to provide care during the working hours for our employees’ children. This
initiative has been an outstanding success in helping employees to balance family and work duties.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 105
PROMOTING EMIRATISATION

In DEWA we have always believed that increasing the employment of Emiratis and helping the next
generation develop and grow is one of our foremost responsibilities as it contributes to the UAE’s economy
and vision. Our strategy is actively focused on investing in our future Emirati workforce and we are
committed to increasing the percentage of Emirati youth and to develop their training and expertise. Of
the new hires during 2016, approximately 44.4% were UAE nationals. Additionally, within our organisation,
UAE nationals held 85.23% of our top management and leadership positions, 47.85% of our middle
management positions, and 33.89% of our non-supervisory positions during 2016. We continuously
strive to attract qualified and talented young Emirati professionals and focus on strengthening their
skills by providing them with scholarships and training courses at leading universities, colleges and
institutes around the world.

We launched a scholarship programme aimed at educating Emirati students abroad on renewable energy.

We also launched the DEWA Academy, accredited by the Business and Technology Education Council

(Pearson BTEC) in the UK, which aims to foster a new generation of Emiratis both academically and
vocationally. Additionally, we offer a number of scholarship programmes for local high school students
in engineering fields to train the next generation of our workforce, particularly in relevant technical
qualifications. Sponsorships for study and research projects connected with the nature of our work are
also available to UAE nationals. We also offer a range of employee benefits that particularly appeal
to UAE nationals to bolster our Emirati recruitment and retention rates.

RECOGNISING AND REWARDING EMPLOYEES

To ensure that DEWA’s employees are continuously rewarded for their remarkable efforts and exceptional
work, a rewarding program for our people called “The Internal Excellence Award & Recognition Programme”
was formed that is applied at every level across DEWA. The award recognises the outstanding groups
and individuals on their performance and achievements during their duties. It also promotes a culture of
excellence and encourages positive competitiveness among the staff. In 2016, DEWA honoured 2,140
of its employees. As stated by H.E MD and CEO Saeed Al Tayer; “The award aims to create a culture based
on implementing excellence principles in all DEWA operations, as well as recognising the performance

SUSTAINABILITY
106 REPORT 2016
of our staff during the year and to motivate them to compete among each other when it comes to

EMPLOYEES
performance and excellence, and to spread positive energy among the workplace and the employees.”
In addition to that, we have also implemented the “Special Act” reward for those employees that help in
conserving DEWA’s resources and making savings in costs. In 2016 we have rewarded 609 employees
for their special acts during the year to conserve DEWA’s assets and budgets.

FOSTERING INNOVATION
Employees are encouraged to provide us with their innovative ideas on how to improve our working
environment and services through our highly interactive platform known as “Afkari” (My DEWA Ideas).
A number of ideas suggested by our employees have had an impact on our triple bottom line. In 2016
the number of participant on “Afkari” platform reached 889, while the number of proposed ideas
reached 2,747 ideas in total. Since these innovative ideas saved us an amount of 725 million in 2016,
we ensured rewarding 1,255 creative idea owners, noting that these rewards have reached up to AED
424,720 this year. Adding to that, we launched an internal initiative that aims to encourage innovation
and creativity through posting videos and documentaries about creative minds at DEWA. During 2016,
we conducted 55 interviews and published the profiles of 3 innovators.

Graph: Innovation Key Results

“Afkari” Idea Managagement Results

AFKARI Feasible Ideas Rate AFKARI Ideas Rate

2016 26% 30% 2016 50% 56%

2015 20% 25% 2015 40% 48%

AFKARI Implemenation Rate Ideas from External Stakeholders

2016 30% 46% 2016 1,074

2015 15% 20% 2015 717

Target Actual

Note: Charts are scaled in reference to the maximum number in each group.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 107
CASE STUDY:

DEWA2021 STREET ART COMPETITION

In our effort to endorse the culture of innovation among our people and align with the National Innovation

Strategy in making the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world, we have launched

DEWA2021 Street Art Competition where employees illustrated pictures on walls to reflect the 5
strategic pillars of DEWA’s Strategic Plan 2021. HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA
expressed the importance of implementing the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in improving our services
and performance and encouraging the innovative culture among our employees and most importantly
improving the administrative work in the government by raising positive energy, creativity, and excellence
to improve the work. Three innovative female employees won the competition for the year 2016: Wadha
Al Saberi from Distribution Power Division, Sheikha Obeid Hasan from the Strategy and Business
Development Division, and Rawda Khouri, from Business Support and Human Resources Division.

SUSTAINABILITY
108 REPORT 2016
CASE STUDY :

EMPLOYEES
FUTURE ENGINEERS
In alignment with the UAE leadership directives that announced 2016 as the “Year of Reading” and
DEWA’s commitment in investing in the youth, we have successfully trained 47 students between the
ages of 12 and 15 years for over 80 training hours through the “Future Engineer” initiative. The
initiative that was part of the “Reading is Positive Energy” took place from 18 to 29 December 2016 to
provide employees’ children with an unforgettable experience through workshops and lectures. These
encouraged students to be creative and innovative while developing their scientific skills such as analysis,
observation, troubleshooting and deduction, as well as teaching them the basic principles of electricity.
The children expressed their interest and passion in participating in such programmes again in the
future, with the results of the participant’s happiness survey reaching 99%. HE Saeed Mohammed
Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA expressed his extreme support in developing the programme to help
students as part of DEWA’s social responsibility in discovering their future career and raising scientific
research spirit and the love of science and technology among the young generation.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 109
SOCIETY

Rolled out 27 initiatives in 2016.

12,922 volunteering hours.

DEWA’s CSR efforts over the last few years have

contributed to an increase in community satisfaction
and happiness levels, from 82% in 2013, to 89% in
2016.
MANAGEMENT APPROACH

At DEWA, we are committed to giving back to the society and communities in Dubai. From an early
stage, we have adopted an explicit policy for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aligned to international
best practices. We have also set an integrated framework which meets CSR standards, as we realise
that our contribution to the local communities is essential. This framework include social initiatives that
are aligned with the UAE Vision 2021, the Dubai Plan 2021, and the DEWA Strategy 2021. In order
to develop and implement our CSR Strategy, we identified the actual needs of our stakeholders and
developed an action plan around those needs. This maps out our objectives for sponsoring, implementing
and assessing our internal and external CSR initiatives, and figuring out how they are meeting our
stakeholders’ needs. In line with the Year of Giving, which was launched by HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed
Al Nahyan, President of the UAE in 2017, DEWA has approved 12 main programmes to provide 27
social and humanitarian initiatives. These initiatives are also aligned with the directives of HH Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai,
to support local communities.

We are using various channels of communication to determine our stakeholders’ needs for CSR
initiatives such as through:

Surveys Official Official Site visits Government

meetings correspondence directives

2 5 6 7 8 9

Internal (staff) and Cooperation with Recommendations Social events and

external (partners & concerned specialised of DEWA’s top occasions
customers) proposals entity and benchmarking leadership

SUSTAINABILITY
112 REPORT 2016
In addition, we value the input from our stakeholders especially that of the society, as it helps us
constantly improve our social initiatives and projects. All departments in DEWA are supporting the

SOCIETY
management directives and contributing to the implementation of the common programmes related to
society. We encourage internal volunteering participation on various CSR initiatives through incentives
and award programs for all DEWA’s employees.

OUR INITIATIVES
During 2016, none of our large projects physically or economically displaced people within our
operational boundaries. Moreover, our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme coordinates
a network of 24 divisional representatives responsible for coordinating the social and community
initiatives related to their respective division. Initiatives range from local community development
programmes such as awareness programs in schools, to blood-donation drives, and Ramadan campaigns.
We are proud to announce that during 2016, 93.8% of our social initiatives have been successfully
implemented, exceeding our target. The constantly increasing trend of DEWA’s overall society happiness
score, reaching 89% for the year 2016 is a clear proof of a well-chosen and executed CSR plan.

89.01% 87.12% 87.00% 87.73% 87.10% 87.00% 90.30% 87.13% 87.00% 86.00%
82.00%
78.00%

Overall Society Happiness Score Overall Community Happiness Score Overall Business Happiness Score

2016 2015 2014 2013

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 113
PEOPLE OF DETERMINATION

DEWA has actively contributed to the different initiatives and programmes that support People of
Determination, the title awarded to people with disabilities by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, according to the
best international practices and standards. This directly supports the “My community, a city for
everyone”initiative launched by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai
Crown Prince, and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, to transform Dubai into a fully disability-
friendly city by 2020.
DEWA has given priority to people with special needs by launching initiatives to enhance its services
for them. One of the initiatives we launched is “My wish”, which makes the wishes of People of
Determination come true. Through DEWA’s Innovation Centre we have provided technology training
for over 150 students with different disabilities and succeeded in bringing students with disabilities into
new technological disciplines. The Innovation Centre will create an environment of innovation and creativity
for disabled students.
To achieve Dubai’s strategy to become a friendly city to people of determination, DEWA held in
December 2016 its 1st annual conference for people with disabilities, with the theme “Inspiring Stories
and Challenges” which covered the “My community.. A city for everyone” initiative launched
by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman
of Dubai Executive Council. The conference tackled the role of government and society in transforming
Dubai to become a city friendly to people of determination and supported DEWA’s strategy to empower
People of Determination and further integrate them into society as individuals who are capable of
innovation and creativity. The conference invited international and local speakers with disabilities to
present their inspiring stories and the challenges they face in their working environment. During the
event, DEWA considered a number of innovations to integrate people of determination within society.

SUSTAINABILITY
114 REPORT 2016
DEWA’S IFTAR TENT

SOCIETY
At DEWA, we bring our staff together within a multi-national environment. In this regards, we annually
organise various charitable and Islamic activities to enhance brotherhood and the spirit of giving, in an
environment that reflects the UAE’s heritage and traditions, as well as Islamic values.
One of our annual initiatives that we organise to support the unity between employees and society
is the annual Ramadan Tent during the Holy Month of Ramadan. The tent serves the basic meal of
“Iftar” to employees from different departments across the Emirate whose shifts begin after “Iftar”. The
Ramadan Tent also serves members of the public from all nationalities.

SUMMER TRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR STUDENTS

During summer, DEWA annually provides training and development programmes to school and university
students. These programmes are designed to accommodate students according to their studies related
field. As the programme starts, the students will be placed in different departments and divisions of
DEWA. The purpose of these programmes is for students to have a better understanding of the work
environment and enhance their team capabilities when working as a team. They also learn more about
time management, and prioritising tasks. Moreover, it will also provide them the sense of responsibility
that will develop them to be leaders in the future. These programmes also aim to employ the highest
number of Emirati students, and this comes is in line with DEWA’s commitment in achieving Emiratisation.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 115
“TAKAFUL” CONTRIBUTION FUND

As a part of DEWA’s Corporate Social Responsibility, we launched in 2009 the “Takaful” contribution
fund to provide financial support to DEWA’s employees in case of potential emergencies. DEWA annually
contributes AED 3,600,000 to this fund. During 2016, 220 employees benefited from this fund.

SOLAR DECATHLON MIDDLE EAST

Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME) is an international competition created through an agreement
between the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, DEWA, and the US Department of Energy. Through
this competition, universities from all over the world will compete to design, build, and operate solar-
powered energy efficient houses, which not only contribute towards environmental protection but also
are capable of adapting to the region’s weather.
The Solar Decathlon is a unique opportunity for university students to gain important experiences,
implement the theories they learn, and demonstrate their skills and capabilities in innovation and
design to achieve a sustainable lifestyle. It is also an opportunity for the public to watch the teams in
action as they compete and challenge each other. A total of 22 university teams from 16 countries have
been shortlisted to the final stage of the Solar Decathlon. Qualified teams will design, build, and operate
sustainable, cost and energy-efficient models of solar-powered homes, with a focus on protecting the
environment, and taking into consideration the climate conditions of the region.
At DEWA, we have always invested in developing people capable of spearheading research and
development in clean and renewable energy to further preserve natural resources and protect the
environment. Dubai will host the first two rounds of the Solar Decathlon, which is to be held for the
first time in the Middle East, in 2018 at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and again
in 2020 to coincide with World Expo in Dubai. Hosting this competition in Dubai underlines the efforts
of DEWA to support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to consolidate Dubai’s status as a place
that encourages innovation, incubates creativity and to transform Dubai into an international hub for
clean energy and green economy.

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116 REPORT 2016
COMMUNICATION AND AWARENESS

SOCIETY
DEWA has always strived to raise awareness among all its stakeholders about water and electricity
conservation. This is achieved through integrated marketing communication campaigns and well-
planned community outreach activities during the year. To ensure that our stakeholders do not waste
electricity & water, we undertake energy audits for high-volume commercial customers, so that the
finding report will enable us to take necessary remedial measures to reduce how much they use. We
also participate in cause-related events such as Earth Hour, World Environment Day, and World Water
Day. Likewise, the Holy Month of Ramadan is an important occasion for us to drive home the message
of “responsible utility consumption”. Between 2009 and 2016, our awareness campaigns and efficiency
audits achieved electricity savings of 1,544 GWh and water savings of 6.2 billion imperial gallons, which
is equivalent to cost savings of approximately AED 957 million.

EARTH HOUR
For 9 years in a row, DEWA has organised Earth Hour to educate Dubai residents on the importance and
need to join in the conservation of energy through this global initiative.
Under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of
Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, and in partnership with the Dubai Supreme Council of
Energy and the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS), in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature

(WWF), and with the support of Dubai Properties Group, Earth Hour in Dubai is an international call
for strengthening collaboration to promote the culture of conservation, and incorporating this into
everyone’s daily lifestyle.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 117
The initiative greatly supports DEWA’s efforts in promoting the sustainable development of Dubai in
terms of minimising carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, and environmental pollution, and providing
sustainable solutions for global warming and climate change. The community is encouraged to participate
by turning off all non-essential lights and appliances for one hour from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. In that way
we highlight the importance of preserving natural resources and protecting the environment, as well as
that small conscious efforts can make a substantial impact if we work together.
DEWA received an official Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) cancellation certificate issued by United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the successful offset of emissions during
the Earth Hour 2016, in cooperation with Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (DCCE). DEWA is pleased
to report an impressive reduction in electricity use of 222 MWh, as well as 96 Tons of reduced carbon
dioxide emissions during Dubai’s Earth Hour 2016.

VOLUNTEERING
In DEWA, we believe that volunteering is a major pillar in being more sustainable and this is aligned
with our motto ”For generations to come”. In 2016, our employees contributed to a total of 12,922
voluntary hours. Volunteering has immense impacts on our employees as it gives them the opportunity
to gain confidence, make a difference, meet people, be part of a community, and learn new skills.

Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Total voluntary hours 916 1,320 1,555 8,014 8,039 13,560 12,922

Total voluntary days 38 55 64 333 334 565 538

SUSTAINABILITY
118 REPORT 2016
CASE STUDY:

SOCIETY
CLIMATE CHANGE CHAMPION PROGRAMME

DEWA annually sends its employees to witness the first-hand effect of climate change and global
warming around the world, as part of its Climate Change Champion Programme. This comes in line with
our strategic objective of minimising our environmental footprint. The programme has started since
2015 where we sent our employees to Antarctica and to the Amazon in 2016. The employees came
back as Climate Change Champions to raise awareness to internal and external stakeholders about the
importance of taking action towards climate change.
In 2016, the Climate Change Champions covered over 2,000 stakeholders through external events
including but not limited to: WETEX/Green Week, World Energy Day, Earth Hour, Quality, Health,
Safety & Environment Conference, DEWA Strategy Week, Creativity Labs, Climate Change & Awareness
Sessions held by the Sustainability Leading Team, university and school visits. During July 2017,
DEWA will send the third batch of employees to Tanzania where they will encounter the breath-taking
landscapes of Tanzania, from the soaring peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak to savannahs
that abound with zebras and wildebeests. The team will also embark a trek via the road less travelled
and explore the different environments. While trekking, the employees will be able to witness first-
hand the effects of global warming on Kilimanjaro and the surrounding area, and learn more about the
impact of climate change from the National Geographic Experts. The expedition will also include other
activities such as joining the safari, visiting the national parks and meeting local stakeholders to discuss
the impact of climate change in the region.

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 119
GRI CONTENT INDEX

APPENDIX 1 : MATERIAL ASPECTS AND THEIR BOUNDARIES

Material
Material Aspects within the Relevant External Stakeholders
organization
or external
Customers Suppliers Partners Society Government Investors
Economic
Economic Performance Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Market Presence Both √ √
Procurement Practices Both √ √ √ √ √
Anti-corruption Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Availability and Both √ √ √ √ √ √
reliability
Demand side management Both √ √ √ √
Research and Within
development
System efficiency Within
Environmental
Energy Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Water Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Emissions Both √ √ √
Effluents and waste Both √ √ √
Environmental Both √ √ √
Compliance
Supplier Environmental Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Assessment
Social
Employment Both √ √
Labour/management Both √
relations
Occupational health Both √ √
and safety
Training and education Within
Diversity & Equal Within
Opportunity
Local Communities Both √ √
Disaster/Emergency Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Planning and Response
Customer Health and External √ √ √ √
Safety
Compliance Both √ √ √
Access Both √ √ √
Provision of information Both √ √ √ √ √ √
Customer Happiness Both √ √ √ √ √ √

SUSTAINABILITY
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REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX
GRI CONTENT INDEX

SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
GRI 101:Foundation 2016
General Disclosures
102-1 Name of the organisation 15
102-2 Activities, brands, products, and services 15
102-3 Location of headquarters 16
102-4 Location of operations 15
102-5 Ownership and legal form 15
102-6 Markets served 15,86
102-7 Scale of the organisation 15,16,29
102-8 Information on employees and other
workers 98,99
102-9 Supply chain 28
102-10 Significant changes to the organisation No significant
and its supply chain changes
102-11 Precautionary Principle or approach 53
102-12 External initiatives 20,21
102-13 Membership of associations 34 7.4
102-14 Statement from the MD & CEO 9
GRI 102: Values, principles, standards, and norms
102-16 23
General of behaviour
Disclosures 2016 102-18 Governance structure 24,25 16.3
102-40 List of stakeholder groups 37
102-41 Collective bargaining agreements No CBA in UAE
102-42 Identifying and selecting stakeholders 36-39
102-43 Approach to stakeholder engagement 36-39
102-44 Key topics and concerns raised 38

102-45 Entities included in the consolidated 14,15

financial statements
102-46 Defining report content and topic
14,41,42
Boundaries
102-47 List of material topics 43
102-48 Restatements of information 14
No
102-49 Changes in reporting significant
changes
102-50 Reporting period 14
102-51 Date of most recent report 14
102-52 Reporting cycle 14 12.6

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 123

 SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
102-53 Contact point for questions regarding the
14
report
This report
Claims of reporting in accordance with has been
102-54 the GRI Standards prepared in
accordance
with the GRI
Standards
:Core option
102-55 GRI content index 123-131
GRI 102: 102-56 External assurance 14,132,133
General
Installed capacity, broken down by
Disclosures 2016 EU1 primary energy source and by 16,54,55
regulatory regime
Net energy output broken down by
EU2 primary energy source and by 54,55
regulatory regime
Number of residential, industrial, institu­
EU3 tional and commercial customer accounts 86

Length of above and underground

EU4 transmission and distribution lines by 56,57
regulatory regime
Allocation of CO2 emissions
EU5 allowances or equivalent, broken down by 66-68
carbon trading framework
Material Topics
Economic
Economic Performance
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
29
GRI 103 Boundary
Management 103-2 The management approach and its
Approach 2016 29
components
103-3 Evaluation of the management approach 29
201-1 Direct economic value generated and 7a;8.1;
29
GRI 201: Economic distributed 9.1
Performance 2016 Financial implications and other risks and
201-2 26,53
opportunities due to climate change
Market Presence
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
106
Boundary
GRI 103 103-2 The management approach and its
Management components 106
Approach 2016 103-3 Evaluation of the management
106
approach
GRI 202: Market 202-2 Proportion of senior management hired 8.2
Presence 2016 from the local community 34

SUSTAINABILITY
124
REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX
SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
Procurement Practices
GRI 103 103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its 12.7
Management Boundary 28
Approach 2016 The management approach and its
103-2 28
components
103-3 Evaluation of the management
approach 28
GRI 204: Proportion of spending on local
Procurement 204-1 28
suppliers
Practices 2016
Anti-corruption
GRI 103 103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its 16.5
23
Management Boundary
Approach 2016 The management approach and its
103-2 23
components
103-3 Evaluation of the management
approach 23
No incidents
GRI 205 Confirmed incidents of corruption and of corruption
Anti- Corruption 205-3 actions taken during the
2016 reporting
period
Availability & Reliability
GRI 103 103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
58-61,87-88
Management Boundary
Approach 2016 The management approach and its com­
103-2 58-61,87-88
ponents
103-3 Evaluation of the management
58-61,87-88
approach
GRI G4 Sector Planned capacity against projected
Disclosures 2013 EU10 electricity demand over the long term by 58-61 7.1;9.1;9.4
Electric Utilities energy source

Demand Side Management

GRI G4 Sector Management Approach: DSM 7.b;8.4;9.4;
Disclosures 2013 - 61,62,81
programs 13.2;13.3
Electric Utilities
Research & Development
GRI G4 Sector
- Management Approach: R&D activity & 7.a;9.5
Disclosures 2013 44
expenditure
Electric Utilities

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 125

 SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
System efficiency
Explanation of the material topic and its
GRI 103 103-1 Boundary 56-57,65-66 7.3;8.4
Management The management approach and its
Approach 2016 103-2 components 56-57,65-66

Evaluation of the management

103-3 approach 56-57,65-66

GRI G4 Sector Transmission and distribution losses as a

Disclosures 2013 EU12 percentage of total energy 56-57 13.2
Electric Utilities
Environmental
Energy
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and 8.4
its Boundary 53,54
GRI 103 The management approach and its
103-2 53,54
Management components
Approach 2016 Evaluation of the management
103-3 53,54
approach
302-1 Energy consumption within the 7.b;9.4
GRI 302 62
organisation
Energy 2016 7.2;7.b;13.2
302-4 Reduction of energy consumption 62
Water
Explanation of the material topic and 12.2
103-1 74-76,81
its Boundary
GRI 103 The management approach and its
Management 103-2 74-76,81
components
Approach 2016 Evaluation of the management
103-3 74-76,81
approach
303-1 Water withdrawal by source 74-76 6.4;6.6;
GRI 303 14.1
Water 2016 Water sources significantly affected by 6.3;6.6;
303-2 74-76 14.1;14.3
withdrawal of water
303-3 Water recycled and reused 80 6.3;14.3
Emissions
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
53-54,66-70 3.9;13.1
Boundary
GRI 103
Management 103-2 The management approach and its
53-54,66-70
Approach 2016 components
103-3 Evaluation of the management
53-54,66-70
approach

SUSTAINABILITY
126
REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX
SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
305-1 Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions 66,67
Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG No power
305-2 purchased
emissions
during 2016
GRI 305 305-4 GHG emissions intensity 66,67
Emissions 2016
305-5 Reduction of GHG emissions 66-67,70 12.4;13.2
305-6 Emissions of ozone-depleting substances 13.2
68,69
(ODS)
Nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur oxides
305-7 (SOX), and other significant air 68,69
emissions
Effluents & Waste
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its 6.3;6.6
Boundary 78-80
GRI 103
103-2 The management approach and its
Management 78-80
components
Approach 2016
103-3 Evaluation of the management
78-80
approach
306-1 Water discharge by quality and 14.2
destination 78
GRI 306
306-2 Waste by type and disposal method 80 12.5
Effluents & Waste
2016 In 2016
there were
306-3 Significant spills no significant 12.4
environmental
impacts.
306-5 Water bodies affected by water 15.5
78
discharges and/or runoff
Environmental Compliance
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and
its Boundary 53,54
GRI 103 103-2 The management approach and its
Management 53,54
components
Approach 2016 103-3 Evaluation of the management
53,54
approach
GRI 307 307-1 Non-compliance with environmental
Environmental laws and regulations 54 13.2;13.3
Compliance 2016
Supplier Environmental Assessment
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
Boundary 28
GRI 103
Management 103-2 The management approach and its
components 28
Approach 2016
103-3 Evaluation of the management approach 28

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 127

 SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
No such
negative
GRI 308 Supplier environmental
Environmental Negative environmental impacts in the impact in our 12.4;13.2;
Compliance 2016 308-2 supply chain and actions taken supply chain 13.3
has been
reported
during 2016
Social
Employment
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its 98,104-106 8.8
Boundary
GRI 103
Management 103-2 The management approach and its 98,104-106
Approach 2016 components
103-3 Evaluation of the management 98,104-106
approach
The rate of
new hires and
turnover was
New employee hires and employee not 8.5;8.6
401-1 calculated in
turnover
2016
+p. 99

GRI 401 Benefits provided to full-time

Employment 2016 401-2 employees that are not provided to 100
temporary or part-time employees
401-3 Parental leave 100,101
Percentage of employees eligible to
EU15 retire in the next 5 and 10 years broken 99
down by job category and by region
Labour /Management Relations
Explanation of the material topic and its 98,104-106
103-1
Boundary
GRI 103
Management The management approach and its 98,104-106
103-2
Approach 2016 components
103-3 Evaluation of the management approach 98,104-106
GRI 402 Minimum notice periods regarding
Labour / Management 402-1 operational changes 105
Relations 2016
Occupational Health & Safety
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
Boundary 102,103
GRI 103 The management approach and its
Management 103-2 102,103
components
Approach 2016
103-3 Evaluation of the management
approach 102,103

SUSTAINABILITY
128
REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX
SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
Workers representation in formal joint
403-1 management–worker health and safety 102,103
GRI 403 committees
Occupational
Health & Safety Types of injury and rates of injury,
occupational diseases, lost days, and 102,103 8.8
2016 403-2
absenteeism, and number of
work-related fatalities
Training & Education
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
Boundary 101
GRI 103
Management 103-2 The management approach and its
components 101
Approach 2016
103-3 Evaluation of the management
approach 101

404-1 Average hours of training per year per

employee 101 4.3
GRI 404
Training & Programs for upgrading employee skills
Education 2016 404-2 and transition assistance programs 101,104-106 4.4

Diversity & Equal Opportunity

103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
100,104-106
Boundary
GRI 103 The management approach and its
Management 103-2 100,104-106
components
Approach 2016
103-3 Evaluation of the management
100,104-106
approach
GRI 405 Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of
Diversity & Equal 405-2 women to men 100 5.1;5.5;8.5
Opportunity 2016
Local Communities
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
Boundary 112,113
GRI 103 The management approach and its
103-2 112,113
Management components
Approach 2016 Evaluation of the management
103-3 112,113
approach
GRI 413 Operations with local community
36-38, 1.4;9.1;11.4
Local Communities 413-1 engagement, impact assessments, and
112-113
2016 development programs
GRI G4 Sector Number of people physically or
Disclosures 2013 EU22 economically displaced and compensation, 113
Electric Utilities broken down by type of project
Disaster/Emergency Planning & Response
GRI G4 Sector 1.5;11.5;
Disclosures 2013 - Management Approach 26,27 11.6
Electric Utilities

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 129

 SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
Customer Health & safety
103-1 Explanation of the material topic and its
Boundary 86,87,93
GRI 103 The management approach and its
Management 103-2 86,87,93
components
Approach 2016
103-3 Evaluation of the management
86,87,93
approach

GRI 416 Incidents of non-compliance

concerning the health and safety No incidents 3.9
Customer Health & 416-2 during 2016
Safety 2016 impacts of products and services

Number of injuries and fatalities to the We

GRI G4 Sector public involving company assets, including suffered no
Disclosures 2013 EU25 work related 3.9
legal judgments, settlements and pending
Electric Utilities legal cases of diseases fatalities
during 2016
Socioeconomic Compliance
Explanation of the material topic and its
103-1 Boundary 23,34
GRI 103 The management approach and its
Management 103-2 components 23,34
Approach 2016
Evaluation of the
103-3 management approach 23,34

No significant
monetary or
non-monetary
Non-compliance with laws and sanctions
GRI 419 for non­ 16.3
419-1 regulations in the social and
Socioeconomic compliance
economic area
Compliance 2016 with the
laws and
regulations in
the social and
economic area
Access
Management approach:
programmes, including in partnership with
- government, to improve or maintain access 89-93
to electricity and customer
support services
GRI G4 Sector Percentage of Population unserved in 1.4;7.1
Disclosures 2013 EU26 0%
licensed distribution or serviced area
Electric Utilities
EU28 Power outage frequency 87,88
EU29 Average power outage 87,88
duration
Average plant availability factor by energy
EU30 87,88
source and by regulatory regime

SUSTAINABILITY
130
REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX
SDGs
GRI Standard Disclosure Description Page Linkage to
GRI
Provision of Information
Management approach: practices to
GRI G4 Sector address language, cultural, low literacy and
Disclosures 2013 - disability related barriers to accessing and 92,114 1.4;7.1
Electric Utilities safely using electricity and customer
support services
Customers Happiness
Explanation of the material topic and its
103-1 86-87,93-94
Boundary
GRI 103 The management approach and its
Management 103-2 86-87,93-94
components
Approach 2016
Evaluation of the
103-3 86-87,93-94
management approach
Results of surveys measuring customer
NON GRI DISCL - happiness 94

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 131

 SUSTAINABILITY
132 REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 133
ACRONYMS LIST

ADWEA Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity DSCE Dubai Supreme Council of
Authority Energy
AF Availability Factor DSM Demand Side Management
AGC Automatic Gear Controller DUCAB­ Dubai High Voltage Cable
AI Artificial Intelligence HV Systems
AIR Accident/Incident Ratio DUSUP Dubai Supply Authority
BAU Business as Usual EFI Earth Fault Indicators
BCM Business Continuity EMPOWER Emirates Central Cooling
Management System Systems Corporation
BCP Business Continuity Plan EMS Environmental Management
System
BIG Billion Imperial Gallons
ENG Emirates National Grid
BIA Business Impact Analysis
ERMC Enterprise Risk Management
BSC British Safety Council Committee
BTEC Business and Technology ERP Emission Reduction Program
Education Council
ETIHAD Al Etihad Energy Service
CBP Certified Business Professional Company
ESCO
CC&S Climate Change & Sustainability
EWS Emirates Wildlife Society
Department
CDM Clean Development Mechanism FEWA Federal Electricity and Water
Authority
CERs Certified Emissions Reductions
GCC Gulf Cooperation Council
CH4 Methane
GDP Gross Domestic Product
CHI Customer Happiness Index
Growth Growth
CISL Cambridge Institute for
Sustainability Leadership GHG Greenhouse Gas
CML Customer Minutes Lost GRI Global Reporting Initiative
CO2 Carbon Dioxide GWh Gigawatt hours
COP Conference of the Parties HFC Hydro Fluorocarbons
COP21 2015 Paris Climate Change HH His Highness
Conference HRSG Heat Recovery Steam
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility Generators
DCC Distribution Control Centre HSE Health, Safety and Environment
DCCE Dubai Carbon Centre of ICAEW Institute of Chartered Accountants
Excellence in England and Wales
DCES Dubai Clean Energy Strategy IG Imperial Gallons
DCS District Cooling Services IMS Innovation Management
System
DED Department of Economic
Development IMS Integrated Management System
DEWA Dubai Electricity and Water INDCs Intended Nationally Determined
Authority Contributions
DGEP Dubai Government Excellence IoT Internet of Things
Program IPP Independent Power Producer

SUSTAINABILITY
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REPORT 2016
 GRI CONTENT INDEX
ACRONYMS LIST

ISAE 3000 International Assurance PFC Perfluorocarbons

Standard 3000 ppm Parts-per million
ISO International Standards PV Photovoltaic
Organisation
RH Relative Humidity
IT Information Technology
RO Reverse Osmosis
IVR Interactive Voice Response
System RWE PI RWE Power International
ME Middle East
JAPS Jebel Ali Power Station
SAIFI System Average Interruption
KAM Key Account Management Frequency Index
KPI Key Performance Indicators SCADA Supervisory Control and Data
kW kilowatt Acquisition
kWh kilowatt-hour SCI Sustainability Culture Indicator
LCOE Lowest Levelised Cost of SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
Energy
SDME Solar Decathlon Middle East
LEED Leadership in Energy and
SEWA Sharjah Electricity and Water
Environmental Design
Authority
LLC Limited Liability Company
SF6 Sulphur Hexafluoride
Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy
SLT Sustainability Leading Team
Company
SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises
MED Multi-Effect Desalination
process SO2 Sulphur Dioxide
MENA Middle East And North Africa SRM Supplier Relationship
Management
MIG Million Imperial Gallons
T&D Transmission and Distribution
MIGD Million Imperial Gallons per Day
tCO2e Tons of Carbon Dioxide
MRV Monitoring, Reporting and
Equivalent
Verification
TESTIAC Thermal Energy Storage
MSF Multi-Stage Flashing
Turbine Inlet Air Cooling
Mt Metric tons
TICSCI The International Customer
MtCO2e Metric tons of CO2 equivalent Service Institute
MW Megawatts TISSE The International Standard for
MW/h Megawatt hours Service Excellence
MWdc Megawatt Direct Current UAE United Arab Emirates
N2O Nitrous oxide UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
NCEMA National Centre for Economic UFW Unaccounted for Water
Management and Administration UNDP United Nations Development
NOx Nitrogen Oxides Programme
ODS Ozone Depleting Substances UNFCCC United Nations Framework
OEM Original Equipment Convention on Climate Change
Manufacturer WGEO The World Green Economy
OTF Outdoor Testing Facility Organisation
PoA Programme of Activities WWF World Wide Fund for Nature
ZEB Zero Energy Building

SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2016 135