Dubai to commission $408m of substations in second quarter

State utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) is currently testing 12 new electrical substations worth AED1.5bn ($408m) in preparation for being commissioned before the end of the second quarter.

The utility revealed that when commissioned, the 12 new 132/11kV substations will bring the total number of 132kV substations installed in the emirate to 305. Since the start of 2020, Dewa has commissioned 8 new substations worth a total of AED850m.

The substations commissioned in 2020 have a conversion capacity of 150 megavolt-amperes (MVA) with 16km of high-voltage 132kV cable to connect different areas of Dubai.

By the end of 2018, Dubai had 21 400kV substations, 258 132kV substations, 101 33kV substations and 35,500 11 and 6.6kV substations installed and operational. Total installed power generation capacity for the emirate’s grid at the end of 2018 was 11.1GW.