Dubai will add low-energy light poles that provide Wi-Fi throughout the emirate next year, and is also evaluating technology to create solar roads, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has announced.
DEWA has begun a joint venture with German firm Innogy, who signed a memorandum of understanding with the French lighting company Ragni to design and implement smart lighting poles.
“The smart poles that will be produced in the first quarter of 2018, combine multiple innovative features that support smart-city infrastructure according to the highest international standards,” said Saeed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive of DEWA.
In addition, the Dubai utility met Colas Group, a French civil engineering firm specialising in road and rail construction, to explore a joint collaboration for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, with the research and development centre in Dubai.
Al Tayer said that the utility reviewed the Wattway technology used to produce solar energy from panels that are installed on existing roads.
“This innovative technology makes use of the road’s surface, without any need for special engineering work,” he said, adding that there were even more possibilities to develop the technology further for charging electric vehicles.
According to Colas, a 1-kilometre stretch of road paved with the technology can provide electricity to power public lighting in a city of 5,000 people. Using only 20 square metres of Wattway panels can supply the electricity required for one home.
For the past five years, the company has been developing Wattway, composed of cells inserted in superposed layers that ensure resistance and tyre grip. The material is just a few millimetres thick, which is what makes it possible to adapt to thermal dilation in the pavement as well as vehicle loads.
