DUBAL’S Power and Desalination Plant has been certified to the ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS), the first plant in the Middle East to achieve the standard.

Developed in 2011, ISO 50001 provides guidelines for energy management with emphasis on establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving existing energy management systems thus helping to continuously improve and manage an organisation’s energy utilisation, performance and consumption levels. Achieving the ISO 50001 EnMS certification requires transparency in energy consumption and usage, accurate measurement of energy consumption and detailed reporting of the same as well as strategic designs and practices related to the buying of equipment, processes and acquiring of personnel that would impact an organisation’s energy performance.

A Dubal statement listed the benefits of ISO 50001 EnMS as efficient, cost-effective and moral use of energy; avoidance of unnecessary consumption or waste of energy and improvements in the production and efficiency of equipment and processes due to continuous monitoring.

INITIATIVES
Several initiatives attest to the high standards met by the Dubal Power Plant’s existing EnMS, which is consistently supported by significant investments to save energy and maximise use of available fuel. These include GT evaporative cooling, Frame 9BE rehabilitation, GT air filtration modification, Frame 9E uprates, uprate of GT14 from D2 to DM, outage optimisation, HV reconfiguration, the GTX project and compressed air enhancement. Moreover, hot gases from the Dubal Power Plant are used to drive the Dubal Desalination Plant, which can produce up to 30 million gallons of fresh water per day. The enhanced efficiency of Dubal’s smelter and power operations over the period 2005 to 2012 has reduced total fuel consumption by 14 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd), leading to a concomitant reduction in the corporation’s carbon dioxide emissions by 270,000 tonnes per year.

HIGH CAPACITY
Comprising 23 gas turbines and seven steam turbines, the installed power generation capacity of the Dubal Power Plant is 2,350 MW (at 30˚C). The gas turbines are fuelled primarily by natural gas and, thanks to the cogeneration and combined cycle configuration of the utility, approximately 36.8 per cent of power generated at Dubal is fuel-free. Through on-going efforts, thermal efficiency of the Dubal Power Plant improved and in 2012 reached 44.37 per cent – which means increased power generation to produce hot metal with the fuel requirement increment proportionately less.

J Q]08;T A corporate focus on energy-saving is supported across Dubal’s business, from operational components within the greater complex to administration functions and the residential area.

Moreover, Dubal implemented initiatives mandated by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE), of which Dubal is a member entity, in April 2011. This resulted in energy-savings of approximately 19,533,876 kWh over the initial 24 months since implementing the directives (to end-March 2013) with savings in the first quarter of 2013 alone amounting to 2,158,560 kWh. Dubal’s overall target is energy-savings of approximately 22,000,000 kWh per year by end-2013. Dubal is also playing an active role in other initiatives to fulfill the Dubai Integrate Energy Strategy (DIES) 2030, including an investment of Dh20 million in the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park announced by the DSCE in February 2012, where Phase I will yield 10 MW by 2013 and the project is planned to be scaled-up in the future.

Widely regarded as the UAE’s industrial flagship, Dubal is considered by many businesses to be a role model. The entirely state-owned corporation already holds numerous other international standards, notably ISO 9001:2008; ISO/TS 16949:2009; ISO 14001:2004; ISO IEC 27001:2005; ISO IEC 20000-1:2005 and OSHAS 18001:2007.

Dubal president and CEO Abdulla Kalban says, “Dubal is committed to operating to the highest quality and performance standards. This is inculcated through achieving the required levels and maintaining these at each subsequent audit cycle.

“The team appointed from the Dubal Power and Desalination Plant worked very hard with our Quality Assurance department to demonstrate the standards we uphold in our power generation activities and the controls we have in place to ensure optimised management of both the energy production and consumption components.

“Achieving ISO 50001:2011 is testament to their efforts and to Dubal’s leadership position in the UAE.”