DEWA’s Distribution Network Smart Centre promotes Dubai’s pioneering digital transformation

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) enhances the resilience and efficiency of Dubai's smart network through its Distribution Network Smart Centre (DNSC), enabling advanced features such as the upgrade of automatic decision-making capabilities.

The smart centre accelerates DEWA's digital transformation and facilitates the achievement of sustainability goals.

The DNSC ensures the management and sustainability of three smart DEWA initiatives – advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for electricity; Shams Dubai, which allows owners to instal photovoltaic systems on buildings to generate solar power; and the EV Green Charger, which aims to promote eco-friendly transport by establishing a network of electric vehicle charging stations across Dubai.

The smart centre gathers, monitors and analyses data, alarms and readings from smart devices in the distribution power network. It provides real-time data and alarm monitoring, conducts smart diagnostic and analytical services by leveraging Big Data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and automates immediate responses for proactive maintenance and to support customer satisfaction. This reduces human interference and improves decision-making.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, said, “The DNSC is part of our efforts to achieve DEWA’s Smart Grid Strategy 2021-2035 and automate the network through smart and integrated systems to monitor and analyse data to design effective, proactive solutions.”

Rashid bin Humaidan, Executive Vice President of Distribution Power at DEWA, said,“The Distribution Network Smart Centre automates immediate responses for proactive maintenance and enhances the happiness of customers. The initiative was launched in January 2024 and has been analysing over 15 million bits of data collected on daily basis from the distribution network, transforming this data into insight reports and dashboards to support data-driven decision making."

The centre monitors and analyses smart electricity meter infrastructure in Dubai on a real-time basis according to an integrated automated system, obtaining reports that DEWA divisions such as Distribution Power depend on to reduce the duration of electricity outages, allowing them to make appropriate decisions.

Setting errors immediately capture the attention of the smart centre, which – through its diagnostic analysis – prompts onsite responses by notifying field crews.
Furthermore, it conducts daily remote readings that monitor and ensure data integrity for DEWA customers who can access such readings via the DEWA smart app. Its reporting capabilities offer insights into energy consumption, aiding future growth planning for DEWA's electricity services. All traditional electricity meters have been converted into smart meters in Dubai.

The DNSC monitors DEWA’s electric vehicle (EV) Green Charger stations throughout Dubai and provides precise, round-the-clock data on their performance, challenges and technical requirements to support timely analysis and decision-making.