The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said it plans to build 97 new 132/11 kilovolt (kV) substations over the next three years, at a projected cost of AED 10 billion ($2.7bn).

The new substations will be located at Hassyan, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, and other locations to support the expansion of other power plants in Jebel Ali and Al Aweer, according to a DEWA statement.

“DEWA is… expanding its electricity and water services by developing new stations and upgrading existing ones, according to the latest world-class practices,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“DEWA’s total production capacity reached 10,000 megawatts (MW) in 2016, while its peak load was 7,982MW, compared to 7,696MW in 2015. DEWA’s peak load capacity grew by 4%. We have allocated a total budget of AED 65 billion over the next five years to meet future demand.

“Up until the end of last year, DEWA established a total of 222 132/11kV main substations, 16 of which were commissioned in 2016 at a total cost of AED 2 billion.”