By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has achieved significant operational and financial gains by re-engineering its major gas turbine inspection and maintenance processes, saving 229 workdays and AED 40 million over seven years compared to business as usual. The initiative has substantially reduced maintenance outage durations, enhanced generation unit availability and optimised the utilisation of human and technical resources, delivering sustainable long-term value to the organisation and its stakeholders.
Developed by DEWA’s Generation Division, the innovative practice received a prestigious Seven-Star Rating at the International Best Practice Competition, establishing it as a global benchmark for excellence in gas turbine maintenance.
“At DEWA, we continuously transform innovation into tangible and sustainable value. Through the re-engineering of major gas turbine maintenance processes, we have significantly shortened outage durations, enhanced generation asset readiness and improved resource utilisation. This achievement strengthens the resilience, reliability and efficiency of the power generation system, enabling us to meet the emirate’s growing energy demand while maintaining the highest standards of safety and operational excellence. the seven-star rating awarded to this practice by the International Best Practice Competition reflects DEWA’s culture of continuous improvement and innovation, as well as the capabilities of our Emirati talent in developing world-class solutions that deliver measurable improvements in productivity, efficiency and asset sustainability,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.
Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation (Power & Water) at DEWA, said: “This best practice has significantly enhanced the availability and reliability of F-Class gas turbines during periods of peak electricity demand. It has reduced operational risks, improved the effectiveness of maintenance planning and execution, and delivered substantial financial and operational benefits. The initiative further strengthens the readiness of DEWA’s generation assets and contributes to the sustainability and resilience of the electricity and water systems.”
DEWA adopted a comprehensive and integrated approach to redesigning major gas turbine inspection and maintenance activities in coordination with Siemens Energy. The initiative involved optimising work sequencing, enhancing coordination between operations, maintenance and engineering teams, improving the management of specialised resources and critical spare parts, and leveraging advanced business planning and operational data analytics. These measures enabled DEWA to achieve globally recognised outage durations while maintaining the highest standards of quality, availability, safety, reliability and operational performance.
In 2022, DEWA surpassed its own world record for the shortest major inspection outage of gas turbines and desalination units, breaking the benchmark it had established in 2019. The organisation reduced the duration of major inspection activities from 11 days to 9 days, representing an 18% improvement over the previous world record and an 84% reduction compared to the outage durations recorded in 2006.