Dubai embraces change. It’s a city constantly reinventing itself, and in less than 30 years has grown from a fledgling city of just 476,000 residents to the booming metropolis of today — home to more than three million people.
But a city can’t continue to grow at such a rapid pace without long-term investment in its infrastructure. After all, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now one of the highest electricity consumers per capita in the world — and the country’s annual power demand is predicted to jump by 5.6% between 2012 and 2021. New energy solutions are needed to ensure the UAE can meet the needs of its growing population and industries.
Now plans for a large-scale plant vast enough to provide electricity to power the entire northern emirates are underway. At the moment, the majority of power plants in the UAE are in the south-west and east, with power in the north of the country being provided through overhead lines. However, as the amount of power that can be provided this way is limited, a long-term solution is needed.
Siemens and the UAE’s Federal Electricity & Water Authority (FEWA) are looking into bringing the 2.2 gigawatt power plant to Ras al-Khaimah, the northernmost emirate in the UAE. And as Power and Gas (PG) Sales and Customer Operations (SC) Sales Manager, it’s Michael Streit’s job to turn the plant from paper plans to bricks-and-mortar reality.
His responsibilities include project and opportunity development, leading the bid process, customer negotiations, and liaising with internal departments — including proposal, commercial, and legal teams. He defines processes within Siemens to ensure the planning phase runs as quickly and efficiently as possible, and communicates with any external partners working with Siemens to win the work.
Usually Michael works on one or two projects at one time, meaning he spends several years getting to intimately know each particular scheme. When a project is won or signed off, he passes it to the execution teams before moving on.
Siemens are looking into exclusively developing a power plant in Ras-al-Khaimah. A decision is expected to be made at the end of this year to go ahead and, if signed off, it is predicted that it will take three years to build.
The future of the city
Power plants might not be as memorable or grand as some structures in the UAE — after all, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and the world’s first underwater hotel are just two of Dubai’s many impressive landmarks.
But without investment in ‘hidden infrastructure’, such as power plants, the area’s growth would plateau, and it would not be able to serve the people living in the UAE. “The region keeps reinventing itself,” Michael says. “Places like Dubai have changed a lot since I’ve been here and I expect the city still to change very quickly and adopt new technologies. Its people want to be ahead.”
Looking forward, Michael believes the project will impact the UAE’s future by attracting investment in other industries. “Because power and gas grids will be available, you pave the way for further industries to come to the northern emirates.” Industries focusing on digitalization, additive manufacturing or urban agriculture have the potential to undergo the most changes, he says.
“There won’t be as much dependency on the past,” he says. “There will be the ability to leapfrog technology.” And with the growth of a diversified economy will inevitably come the creation of new jobs, from cyber security experts to engineers and construction workers.
When cities grow as rapidly as Dubai it’s easy to take in the obvious; the vast structures, glistening transportation systems, and busy road networks. But, importantly, it’s the quieter, behind-the-scenes projects that really allow a city to grow.
Ras al-Khaimah is one place that’s undergoing such a transition — it’s more than just a power plant, it’s about meeting the UAE’s growing electricity demands. It allows the northern emirate states to look even further ahead, enabling and encouraging greater investment in future industries, which in turn will bring more people and more jobs to the region. It is creating a platform to power up the future — and that makes it a very exciting place
to be.
Michael Streit is originally from Germany, and moved to Dubai in 2011 to work on projects to transform the UAE. He has worked at Siemens since 2007 in a variety of roles, including Marketing Manager. Find out more about working at Siemens.
