Latest / DEWA Podcasts / WETEX 2026’s first day features 31 specialised seminars exploring key sustainability priorities

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WETEX 2026’s first day features 31 specialised seminars exploring key sustainability priorities · DEWA Podcasts

• 0:00
  Day 1 of the 28th edition of the Water, Energy,
• 0:03
  Technology and Environment exhibition, organised
• 0:05
  by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority
• 0:07
  at the Dubai World Trade Centre, held 31 specialised
• 0:10
  seminars on clean energy, grids, water, health
• 0:13
  and safety, green mobility and supplier relations.
• 0:17
  Basil Almabroch, Executive Manager for Research
• 0:19
  and Development at Alphanar, presented Alphanar's
• 0:22
  SF6 free medium voltage switchgear. One kilogram
• 0:26
  of SF6 has the warming impact of 23 ,000 kilograms
• 0:29
  of carbon dioxide, and Alfana replaced it with
• 0:32
  dry air technology of zero global warming potential.
• 0:36
  IEC tests passed at independent labs, including
• 0:38
  KEMA, from minus 35 to plus 55 degrees Celsius,
• 0:42
  with digital asset management pilots within two
• 0:45
  years and mainstream adoption within five. battery
• 0:55
  energy storage and reverse osmosis desalination,
• 0:58
  guided by long -term demand forecasting and integrated
• 1:01
  capacity planning. On green hydrogen, Omar Jermouni,
• 1:04
  head of origination for synthetic fuels and green
• 1:07
  hydrogen at Aqua, said the Gulf can produce electro
• 1:10
  -sustainable aviation fuel around 40 % below
• 1:13
  European costs, holding about 10 % of global
• 1:16
  air passenger traffic. Europe's 2030 mandate
• 1:19
  needs about 600 ,000 tonnes against today's capacity
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  of 20 ,000 tonnes. and a 1 % regional mandate
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  by 2030 would require 1 .3 to 1 .5 gigawatts,
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  yielding 130 ,000 to 140 ,000 tonnes. He called
• 1:34
  for hub mandates, double -sided auctions and
• 1:37
  2028 commitments. General Manager of the Technical
• 1:51
  and Quality Control Department at Riyadh Cables
• 1:53
  announced its new 525 -kilovolt high -voltage
• 1:57
  direct current cables, transmitting 2 .6 to 3
• 2:00
  gigawatts, with a 4000 -square -millimetre aluminium
• 2:03
  keystone conductor and an aluminium sheath replacing
• 2:06
  lead. Prototypes passed independent tests, and
• 2:09
  the company, about 4 ,700 employees and in Sharjah
• 2:13
  since 2000, is building its own type test laboratory.
• 2:16
  Chandak Gorai of Future Pipe Industries covered
• 2:19
  corrosion -resistant composite pipes, fibre optic
• 2:21
  acoustic monitoring, SCADA, satellite detection,
• 2:24
  AI -powered predictive modelling and digital
• 2:26
  twins, citing Dubai's water losses of 4 .4 %
• 2:30
  among the lowest globally. Sunten covered solar
• 2:33
  transformers, from prefabricated substations
• 2:35
  to dry -type and liquid -immersed units. On renewables,
• 2:39
  Faisal Ali Rashid, Senior Director of Demand
• 2:41
  Side Management at the Dubai Supreme Council
• 2:43
  of Energy, highlighted Dubai's large -scale solar.
• 2:46
  the Shams Dubai initiative, and reverse osmosis
• 2:49
  desalination, while Mazdar and Positive Zero
• 2:52
  addressed financing risks and bankable contracts.
• 2:55
  The new energy order panel with specialists from
• 2:57
  Etihad WE, Hitachi Energy, Schneider Electric,
• 3:00
  Fort Group, and Rosatom stressed cyber resilient
• 3:03
  grids, rising AI and data center demand, technological
• 3:06
  sovereignty, regional interconnections, and predictable
• 3:09
  long -term investment. On water, Daniele Iacoboni.
• 3:13
  co -founder and chief R &D officer at Anico Middle
• 3:16
  East showcased ARCA, a mobile unit combining
• 3:19
  filtration, reverse osmosis and electrochemical
• 3:22
  disinfection. A preliminary UAE study suggests
• 3:25
  a 50 megawatt data center could cut water withdrawals
• 3:28
  by around 80 percent. A gradient representative
• 3:31
  explored industrial water circularity through
• 3:33
  four measures, water intensity, reuse rates,
• 3:36
  brine discharge and resource recovery, including
• 3:39
  a Jeddah desalination project recovering 50 percent
• 3:42
  more fresh water. from discharged Brine. and
• 4:13
  Ahmed al -Jarouf, AI and cybersecurity lead at
• 4:16
  Bureau Veritas Cybersecurity, with calls for
• 4:18
  transparency, human oversight, ISO 42001 governance,
• 4:22
  and Dubai's goal of AI powering 60 % of government
• 4:25
  operations by 2030. The Green Mobility Panel,
• 4:29
  moderated by Maya Hojay, Senior Business Anchor
• 4:31
  at CNN Business Arabic, featured Walid Hizawi,
• 4:34
  Group Chief Strategy Officer at Gargash Prime,
• 4:36
  and Hisham Iran, Director of Operations at Dubai
• 4:39
  Taxi Company, covering charging networks, lifetime
• 4:42
  operating and maintenance costs, hydrogen for
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  heavy duty transport, and links with public transport.
• 4:47
  Finally, the supplier relations sessions advance
• 4:49
  the authority's supplier partnerships, sustainability,
• 4:52
  and the circular economy.