Dubai: The food processing unit of a poultry farm will now be harnessing solar energy for its power needs.
Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), on Tuesday inaugurated the first solar-powered poultry farm in the UAE, Emirates Modern Poultry Co (Al Rawdah) at Al Marmum in Dubai.
Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, chairman of Al Rawdah, and other senior officials from the company and Dewa were present.
The 1-megawatt solar plant will power the food processing unit of Al Rawdah. The power shift at the plant is part of the Shams Dubai imitative, which encourages building owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electricity from solar power and connect the systems to Dewa’s grid.
During the inauguration, Al Tayer lauded the Emirates Modern Poultry for supporting Dubai’s shared vision to protect the environment and reduce its carbon footprint.
“We value the efforts of Emirates Modern Poultry to promote Dubai’s position as a pioneering city in developing the renewable and alternative energy sector, and innovating modern techniques to enhance energy efficiency, rationalise the use of natural resources, and find alternative solutions for conventional energy sources. This is done by involving society in sustainable development,” Al Tayer said.
“At Dewa, we support these efforts by promoting sustainability and transforming Dubai into a global hub for clean energy and green economy.”
Al Owais said their initiative to turn to solar power is in line with the UAE’s vision of moving towards a sustainable future by adopting renewable and clean energy sources.
“We are proud to be the first poultry farm in the UAE to move to solar power. Minimising our environmental footprint has always been a top priority for the company. Being UAE’s home-grown company, our vision has been aligned with that of our leaders. To us, this is just the beginning to a transformative journey into the future,” Al Owais said.
Since Shams Dubai’s launch in 2015, Dewa has connected 529 solar systems in Dubai with a total capacity of 19.6MW and is looking to increase this to cover all buildings in Dubai by 2030.
