UAE power consumption 15% beyond official forecasts

A real estate market growth of 20% nationwide has triggered a concomitant rise in energy consumption, said the FWED Director General, singling out the property fever now gripping the country as the main cause for the increased power consumption. "We have been committed to the forecast 8% growth in energy consumption, but the real estate boom has far surpassed all our records and expectations," he mentioned.

"Energy consumption will continue to rise as a result of economic necessities. Accordingly, we have to seek alternative energy resources in order to achieve two important goals: firstly reducing the considerable costs associated with the construction of energy installations and facilities, and secondly keeping the environment clean and forestalling more of the harmful effects of global warming,"

said Dr Abdullah Al Amiri, Chairman of the Emirates Energy Award, organized by the Dubai Quality Group.

"Renewable energy originates from inexhaustible natural resources, from subterranean hydrocarbon resources, like oil, natural gas and coal, to wind, water and sun, all of which are renewable energy resources already being used by developed countries and some developing nations on a large scale".

He added that the use of renewable energy resources has grown markedly over the past few years in an apparent bid to avoid more of the detrimental effects of global warming and to brace for the approaching exhaustion of subterranean fuels and the concomitant risks.


A recent report by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry indicated that the electricity sector in Dubai is in need of around $1bn worth of investments annually over the next six to eight years to meet the growing demand, with the emirate of Dubai alone required to increase its power generation capacity to 9.5 GigaWatts by 2010.