Project a symbol of green partnership

New power station will provide 20 percent of Dubai’s future energy mix

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — As the Middle East’s first power station with Chinese investment and construction cooperation, the Hassyan Clean Coal project in the United Arab Emirates is on track, faster than expected, for the goal of starting operation by 2020.

Located on the southwestern coast of Dubai, the project currently has 2,000 employees working in two shifts per day, each for six to eight hours, in high summer temperatures.

The project was started by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, or DEWA, in November 2016 under a joint venture with ACWA Power Harbin Holding Company, comprising Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and China’s Harbin Electric International.

“Once fully completed by 2023, this clean coal power station will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, a symbol of UAE-China green energy partnership, and a successful joint venture under China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” said Tie Sijia, deputy manager of the Dubai Hassyan Power Plant project.

“The $3.3 billion power station will provide 20 percent of Dubai’s future energy mix,” Tie said, explaining that each of the four power units in the station will generate 600 megawatts through the use of ultrasupercritical technology.

He said over 30 percent of the project has been finished, and by 2020, when Dubai hosts the World Expo, the first of the four units will start generating electricity.

Goal for 2050

According to DEWA Managing Director and CEO Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, Dubai’s future clean energy mix will rise to 75 percent by 2050.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also the UAE prime minister, has set the goal of making Dubai the greenest city in the region.

As for now, Dubai’s electricity system relies almost entirely on natural gas.

“The cooperation among the different nationalities works very well,” said Vladimir Donovetsky, the site planning manager, who is Romanian and has worked in Libya.

“We learn a lot from each other and the atmosphere is very cooperative because the construction site adheres to the highest international standards and that supports our focus on bringing things forward.”

US engineer Gary Lexa, project director of Hassyan Energy, is likewise upbeat. “The team is very international and we share our experience. I once worked for Chinese firms in the United States and in China’s Wuhan on power generation projects,” said Lexa.

The project will run on imported coal as the UAE, a major global oil supplier, has no coal reserves.

“While building the project, we pay high emphasis on environmental protection, for example, enabling the indigenous turtles to pass across the coast,” said Tie.

In order to ensure the highest environmental protection efforts, Harbin Electric International works together with DEWA and environmental groups in Dubai.

China was the UAE’s top trade partner from 2014 to 2016, during which time bilateral trade amounted to $142 billion.

About 300,000 Chinese nationals now live in the UAE, while more than 4,000 Chinese businesses operate in the Gulf state.