Sharjah: In an ambitious new move, Sharjah plans to slash power and water use by at least 30 per cent over the next five years.
The plan was announced on Wednesday at the head office of the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) as part of the declaration of Sharjah as the City of Conservation.
Currently, the daily peak power consumption is 2,200 megawatts (MW) while the daily water use is 110 million gallons, Sewa Chairman Dr Rashid Al Leem said.
If the target is achieved, it would mean savings of 660MW and 33 million gallons per day, which also represent enormous cutbacks in pollution and bills.
Dr Al Leem said the target is achievable, citing the success of Sewa’s Peak Hour initiative on July 1 that saved 22.5MW in one hour. He added that multiplying that figure by 24 hours yields a saving of 540MW per day, which represents a 26 per cent drop in consumption.
Dr Al Leem said the target would be met through a variety of means, including “technical ones” focused on industry and infrastructure; and household conservation drives.
“For the non-technical options, we have to go back to the people and give them the best [conservation] advice,” he added.
At the same time, power production efficiency would be boosted by 50 per cent, loss in the power network minimised to three per cent or less, and loss in the water network minimised to 10 per cent or below.
“The energy sector globally is faced with so many challenges, it’s not only here. We’re so connected, we can’t live without electricity. It’s part of life,” Dr Al Leem said.
“We’ll be exceeding the 30 per cent goal … I want to clarify, we’re not asking people to switch off electricity, water and gas. Switch on what you need, switch off what you don’t need.
“Why conserve? The energy sector is going through a tough time. With conservation, you don’t need to build extra power plants.”
Sharjah is also rolling out smart meters that show live readings and consumption graphs. “If you see it’s going up to the next slab, you can switch it off. You can see your average and see if there’s something wrong in your house,” he added.
Moreover, Sewa will replace conventional lights in more than 50,000 street poles with energy-efficient LED lights. A pilot project showed that the replacement slashed consumption by four megawatts to 1.2MW in 12 hours, he said.
Al Leem also said any company opening shop in Sharjah would have to get a No Objection Certificate from Sewa from August onwards to ensure compliance with standards. Substandard products are “a challenge here as in any free market economy”, he added.
There would also be pressure monitoring devices in the water network that would automatically and instantly flag an alert in case of a leak or drop in pressure.
