The Arabian Gulf could be home to a new 400MW pumped storage plant after the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) signed an agreement with the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) and the Belgian Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering Group (DEME) to study the project.
A memorandum of agreement (MoA) was signed during the World Future Energy Summit 2018 by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, Ahmed Al Ebrahim, CEO of GCCIA, and Bernard Paquot, Area Director, Dredging International NV/DEME Group.
“The MoA to study the economic and environmental feasibility of constructing a pumped hydro storage island in the Arabian Gulf supports our efforts to diversify energy sources and enhance storage technologies,” commented Al Tayer. “This supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to make Dubai a global hub for clean energy and green economy, and provide 75% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2050.”
The project, which will be the first of its kind in the region, builds on DEWA’s success in launching a 250MW pumped storage hydroelectric power station in Hatta. It will make use of the existing water stored in the Hatta Dam, and an upper reservoir to be built in the mountain. Water will be pumped from the Arabian Gulf using solar-powered turbines.
The new pumped storage plan would have a storage capacity of approximately 2500MWh.
