On November 1, 2026, a signing ceremony is taking place at the headquarters of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. Waleed bin Salman, Vice Chairman of DEWA International, and Shen Bing, President of Shanghai Electric Power Station Group, signed a memorandum of understanding, which was witnessed by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA and Chairman of DEWA International. This framework document combines Dubai's experience in public utility operations with China's equipment manufacturing capabilities into a joint overseas framework, targeting bidding opportunities for global energy and water projects.

Operation experience docking equipment manufacturing

The scope of cooperation defined in this memorandum of understanding covers the main tracks in the field of public utilities. According to the list disclosed by the UAE National News Agency, potential areas of cooperation between the two parties include combined cycle power plants, photovoltaics, solar thermal, battery energy storage, wind power, seawater desalination, power transmission and distribution, green hydrogen and green ammonia, as well as equipment supply and supporting services in the oil and gas field. The key to the cooperation mechanism lies in the combination of operational experience and equipment manufacturing division of labor. DEWA has been deeply involved in Gulf public utilities for many years, accumulating mature project standards and operational experience in large-scale photovoltaic power plant operation, seawater desalination management, and power grid operation and maintenance; Shanghai Electric has a complete energy equipment manufacturing system and EPC general contracting capability. The logic of consortium bidding is that DEWA International provides qualification endorsement and project structural design capabilities for public utility operators, while Shanghai Electric provides equipment cost and engineering delivery competitiveness, complementing each other to compete for public utility bidding in third country markets.

Dubai model overseas replication carrier

To understand the strategic weight of this memorandum, it is necessary to look at DEWA International's positioning. DEWA International was established in June 2026 as a wholly-owned overseas investment and operation platform of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. Its core mission is to export Dubai's construction and operation models in the energy and water sectors to global markets. Al Tayer cited industry forecasts during the launch event that the global energy and water infrastructure market demand is expected to exceed $20 trillion by 2035. From the perspective of cooperation areas, in addition to the Central East region, the two sides are focusing on developing emerging public utility markets such as Africa and Southeast Asia, where the demand for power upgrading and water renovation continues to be released. DEWA International's role is not as a direct investor, but as an operational standard exporter and project structure designer, while Shanghai Electric embeds its equipment and EPC capabilities into its global project pipeline. Keywords: the Belt and Road news network, enterprise industry, energy and water

Building Trust for Solar Thermal Photovoltaic Projects

This memorandum is not a trial from scratch, and its underlying trust is built on the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park project. This project is a global benchmark solar thermal and photovoltaic integrated power station with an installed capacity of 950 megawatts and a total investment of 15.78 billion dirhams. It is constructed by a consortium led by Shanghai Electric as the main contractor and adopts a hybrid technology route of solar thermal and photovoltaic. The delivery record of this project in the high temperature and sandstorm environment of the desert is the most convincing performance certificate of Shanghai Electric in the Middle East public utility field, and it is also the technical basis for DEWA's willingness to include it in the overseas consortium framework. This signing is a memorandum of understanding, a framework exploration document, which does not bind specific projects, does not constitute investment obligations, does not lock orders, and has not disclosed the cooperation target project, investment amount, and development schedule through public channels.Editor/Gao Xue