Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, announced the start of the trial operation and electricity export from the pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in Hatta to Dubai city. During his visit to the project to review the progress in the final stages, the amount of energy produced during the operational trials exceeded 17,921 megawatt-hours.

The plant’s production capacity will reach 250 megawatts with a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt-hours and a lifespan of up to 80 years. The maximum electricity demand for the Hatta area is about 39 megawatts, and the surplus will be exported to Dubai.

Al Tayer was accompanied by Engineer Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of the Production Sector; Engineer Khalifa Al Badwawi, Project Manager; and the project team.

Al Tayer confirmed that the project comes in line with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development across Dubai. It supports Dubai’s Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Carbon Neutrality Strategy 2050 aiming to provide 100% of Dubai’s total energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

Al Tayer visited the power generation building constructed 60 meters underground, reviewed the operation mechanism of the two main water valves weighing about 110 tons each, and visited the control center witnessing one of the operational tests of water pumping and power generation. The visit included the upper dam area built by the authority as part of the Hatta hydroelectric project, with a total water surface area of 210,000 square meters.

The dam consists of two walls of compacted concrete, including a main wall 72 meters high and 225 meters long, and a side wall 37 meters high. The upper dam’s capacity is about 5.3 million cubic meters (1,166 million gallons) of water.

Al Tayer pointed out that the Hatta hydroelectric project, with investments of about 1.42 billion dirhams, is part of the authority’s projects and initiatives to diversify sources of renewable and clean energy production and storage in Dubai, including various available technologies such as photovoltaic panels, concentrated solar power, and battery energy storage.

The project aims to generate electricity by utilizing stored water in the Hatta dam and the upper dam. The plant relies on water stored in both dams, where water is pumped using advanced turbines powered by clean energy from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

These turbines operate in reverse to pump water to the upper dam for energy storage, then use the water flow from the upper dam to the Hatta dam through a 1.2-kilometer underground water tunnel to generate electricity.

The electricity production and storage system efficiency will reach 78.9%, with an immediate response to energy demand within 90 seconds.