Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has announced that the pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant site, which it is building in Hatta, is 58% complete.

The power plant will have a production capacity of 250 MW, a storage capacity of 1,500 Mwh, and a life span of up to 80 years once completed.

It is the 1st station of its kind in the GCC, with investments of up to Dhs1.421bn. The project is planned for completion in Q4 2024.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), recently visited and inspected the construction site at the hydroelectric power plant, where he was briefed about the progress of the project.

The visit also included the inspection of the power generators site and the upper dam, where the water intake in the Hatta Dam connected to the power generators has been completed.

Construction of the 72-metre main roller compacted concrete wall of the upper dam has also been completed.

Al Tayer also inspected the work progress of the water tunnel, which is 1.2 kilometres long and connects the 2 dams. The concrete lining of the water tunnel is complete.

Al Tayer said the plant in Hatta is part of DEWA’s efforts to achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of Dubai’s total power production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

The project supports the comprehensive plan to develop Hatta and meet its social, economic, developmental, and environmental needs, in addition to providing innovative job opportunities for citizens in Hatta.

The hydroelectric power plant will be an energy storage facility with a turnaround efficiency of 78.9% that utilises the water stored in the upper dam, which is converted to kinetic energy during the flow of water through the 1.2 km subterranean tunnel. This kinetic energy rotates the turbines and converts mechanical energy to electrical energy which is sent to DEWA’s grid within 90 seconds in response to demand. To store energy, clean energy generated at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will be used to pump the water through this tunnel back to the upper dam by converting the electrical power to kinetic energy making the whole project 100% renewable.

In recent news, DEWA also reported a net profit of Dhs6.47bn for the 1st nine months of the year, recording near parity with its full-year net profit for year 2021.