DEWA launches smart facility to test water leakage detection

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) ’s Research and Development (R&D) Centre has innovated an advanced, smart facility to simulate various leakage cases of water transmission pipelines.

This allows evaluation, development and testing of new leak detection techniques. The Centre developed the facility using software and hardware, based on the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which allows for complete remote monitoring and control of the facility.

The facility includes smart transmission pipes equipped with sensors to monitor hydraulic indicators, collect data on water pressure, flow and temperature, and control an IoT platform that stores data. This data is used to train Machine Learning models to detect leakage events.

Based on experimental data using the facility, the developed algorithm was able to identify leakage events with 94.4% accuracy. Further experimentation is ongoing to improve algorithms for leak detection in water transmission pipelines and test sensors.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, noted that the new facility strengthens DEWA’s leadership and global excellence in reducing losses in water networks.

Al Tayer affirmed the role of the R&D Centre in developing DEWA’s smart grid and the disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to provide world-class services that enhance the quality of life in Dubai and maintain the organisation’s position at the forefront of global utilities.

"DEWA adopts the latest technologies in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and water networks. It applies the best global practices in all its projects to raise production and operational efficiency. DEWA has made significant achievements in developing its water network to enhance its efficiency and reliability as well as raise the amount of water flow to keep pace with the prosperity of Dubai, and provide its services to more than one million customers according to the highest standards of quality, availability, reliability, and efficiency. DEWA’s results surpass major European and American utilities in several key performance indicators," he said.

"Line losses from electricity transmission and distribution networks were reduced to 2.2% compared to around 6-7% in Europe and the USA. Water transmission and distribution network losses were also reduced to 4.5% compared to about 15% in North America. DEWA has achieved a new world record in electricity Customer Minutes Lost (CML) per year. Dubai recorded 1.19 minutes per customer, compared to around 15 minutes recorded by leading utility companies in the European Union,” said Al Tayer.

"Cooperation between the R&D Centre and the various divisions of DEWA helps to test technologies, patents and programmes developed by the Centre, and to identify aspects that need to be improved to achieve further positive results. The innovations are also being tested in various labs at the Centre, such as the labs for solar energy, IoT, Robotics and Drones, Advanced Materials and Characterisation, Additive Manufacturing and others,” said Waleed Bin Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Excellence at DEWA.

Recently, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) announced the pilot use of ChatGPT, since April 2023, on its website through Rammas, Dewa’s virtual employee to enhance customer experience after launching it last February.

The move is part of Dewa's strategy to employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies across all its operations and services.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa said, "The wise leadership pays great attention to leveraging AI technologies across all sectors. At Dewa, we are keen to enrich the customer experience through smart services that save their time and effort using the latest AI tools. This supports the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, the Dubai 10X initiative, and the Smart Dubai initiative, which aims to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world."

He added that the use of AI in Dewa's services and operations aims to reduce the number of visits to customer happiness centres and contribute to shaping a new digital future for Dubai through Digital Dewa, the authority's digital arm.

"This step to use ChatGPT in Rammas confirms our ongoing efforts to leverage the disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to accelerate digital transformation and provide advanced digital services with added value that enriches the experience and happiness of customers,” added Al Tayer.