Dubai has 17 MW of solar installed under net metering

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The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has revealed it has completed linking its network with 450 residential and commercial buildings under net metering, with a total capacity of about 17.7 MW since the scheme was launched in early 2015.

The larger portion of this capacity, however, was installed over the past year. In the summer of 2016, DEWA had in fact reported that only 30 PV systems were connected to its grid under the scheme.

Meanwhile, DEWA has also announced it will install solar carports at its headquarters and at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment building. PV systems totaling 1.7 MW will be installed at the parking lots at the two sites, which boast a total of 902 parking spaces.

“The Solar Carports and other such projects under Shams Dubai highlight DEWA’s commitment to provide ease for all stakeholders, and encourage government buildings to use clean energy and transform into sustainable buildings. We aim to spread the experience to a large number of public and private buildings in Dubai, supporting national efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase the proportion of solar energy in the environment-friendly energy mix in Dubai,” said DEWA executive vice president of business development & Excellence at DEWA.

Under the Shams Dubai initiative, owners of residential and commercial PV systems may sell to the grid surplus electricity not used immediately at the same price, and at the end of the month only the net amount is billed to the customer.

According to DEWA, many customers chose to cover around 80% of their winter electricity consumption due to significant air conditioning loads. “Over the whole year, this allows a typical customer to offset around 50% of their consumption with cheaper solar energy,” the DEWA claims.

As of August 2013, the DEWA had certified more than 300 solar PV experts, and a total of 63 companies were enrolled with DEWA for Shams Dubai: 54 contractors and nine consultants.

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