Dubai Municipality announced the launch of the advanced plant for power generation from biogas at Warsan Sewage Treatment plant. The first of its kind project in Dubai, using biogas to produce green energy, will be implemented in cooperation with Veolia, a global leader in water, energy and environment.
The project is in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to implement a state-of-the-art infrastructure and the best technology. It also comes as part of the Municipality’s efforts to manage sewage treatment plants to be self-sufficient in terms of electricity needs for their operations and to protect the environment from pollutants.
The project aims to reduce the annual operating costs of the Warsan Sewage Treatment Plant by using the energy generated from biogas, the by-product from wastewater treatment, and utilizing it in the operation of the plant itself, and the reduction of CO2 emissions for Warsan by 31,000 tons per year, equivalent to emissions from 7,000 homes in Dubai.
Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, said that this project comes in fulfillment of the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to provide advanced infrastructure and achieve a sustainable economy.
“This project is also considered as Dubai’s commitment to the directives of COP 21 summit and is guided by the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which seeks to make Dubai the world’s least carbon footprint city by 2050. We have chosen to deal with French international Veolia in this important project,” he said.
Eng. Fahad Al Awadhi, Director of Sewage Projects Department, explained that the commercial operation of the project will start at the beginning of 2021 for a period of 25 years. “The project includes the construction of a plant with an annual production capacity of 45,000 MW power, which is equivalent to 50% of electrical power needs for Warsan plant,” he added.
Al Awadhi added that this project will contribute to the reduction of waste from the Warsan plant, by converting 58,000 cubic meters per day of biogas into electricity, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions, an important link in the chain of sustainable economy.
It is worth mentioning that this project is based on the principle of public-private partnership between Dubai Municipality and French company Veolia, and aims to provide special possibilities to maintain the continuity of production of biogas and within the specifications required for the purpose of using it as an alternative source of energy production in a plant with advanced technical specifications.
Veolia International expressed the importance of cooperation and partnership with Dubai Municipality through this project. “We at Veolia are proud of this partnership with Dubai Municipality, which is a pioneer in implementing all that is new and innovative,” said Sebastian Chauvin, Regional Manager of Veolia.