Expo City Dubai set to be powered by renewables

WAM

Expo City Dubai, which will host the Cop28 summit shortly, will eventually be fully powered by renewables, as the UAE moves to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Expanding on Expo City’s current on-site renewable energy capacity, Dewa, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, will permanently provide solar energy to the entire Expo City site through international renewable energy certificates, or I-Recs, sourced from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

The solar park, in Saih Al-Dahal, about 50 kilometers south of the city of Dubai, will initially supply more than 100,000 megawatt-hours of power, an estimate based on the total consumption for 2023. Additional I-Recs will be incorporated to meet the growing energy needs of the city.

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“This agreement reflects an important step forward in our focus on sustainable development and the transition to clean energy, with Expo City being one of five urban hubs in Dubai’s growth,” Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE’s minister of international cooperation, and CEO of Expo City Dubai Authority, was quoted as saying by the UAE state-run Wam news agency.

“It is a timely transition as Expo City prepares to host the world once again for Cop28, supporting global climate action,” Al Hashimy said.

Expo City aims to expand its on-site capacity in the upcoming years, Wam reported.

Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park’s total capacity is expected to reach 5,000 megawatts, leading to an annual reduction of more than 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030.

The largest real estate project in Dubai’s 2040 urban masterplan, Expo City is intended as a “blueprint for sustainable urban living”, Matt Brown, Expo City’s sustainability chief, told AGBI in October.

Expo City Dubai, the Dubai government company working on the Expo 2020 legacy, is in talks with businesses keen to pioneer other decarbonisation initiatives during the Cop28 conference. More announcements are expected soon, Brown added. 

One of the projects to be launched in time for Cop28 is an urban farm. A tie-up with the UAE’s national food loss and waste initiative (Ne’ma) is also planned, under which the 60-plus food and beverage outlets opening for Cop28 will take part in a food waste reduction programme.