DEWA’s R&D Centre develops digital first approach for condition assessment of critical assets

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Research and Development (R&D) Centre has developed a digital-first approach to assess the condition of critical assets, such as power transformers and overhead lines (OHL).

The deployed approach does not require sensors on site or installation of any hardware equipment; Only the data of the assets and their geographic locations are required.

This innovative approach is based on the ISO 9223:2012 standard, which provides guidelines for assessing atmospheric corrosivity and estimating conductor corrosion rates for OHL. For Power transformers, the model uses the IEC 60067-7 standard, considering the ambient external temperature as a predicting factor.

To maximise the user experience, R&D has also developed a friendly User-Interface (UI) to provide meaningful insights. These insights will be used by the engaged stakeholders for data driven decision-making, leading to costs savings and operational and planning efficiencies. The developed approach also aims to increase collaboration by breaking the silos between the engaged business units by using a digital platform eco-system.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, said, “We implement the latest digital innovative strategies to enhance the efficiency and reliability of our electricity and water networks. By deploying Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, we enable DEWA to maintain world-class service levels. We accelerate our journey towards the digital transformation of our electricity and water networks to meet the growing demand in Dubai and uphold DEWA’s excellence and leadership as one of the best utilities in the world. We are proud of the advanced and innovative scientific research conducted by DEWA’s R&D Centre. Our researchers play a key role in developing and testing solutions to address the needs of utilities and enrich the local and international scientific community.

Waleed Bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA, said that DEWA’s R&D Centre provides its staff with the latest global technologies, labs, and advanced world-class facilities to create the ideal environment for developing solutions.

The Centre used its weather modelling capabilities to generate historic data for the past 5 years, and digitally combining the impact of the weather on certain metrics of these assets.

Maintenance and inspection teams can use these insights to compare their maintenance schedules and use them to prioritise some of these activities, inform the operational and investment planning businesses to plan their operation or replacements if needed. Furthermore, the Remaining Useful Life of these assets can be estimated to maximise their utilisation.