Dubai Electricity and Water Authority commissioned 1,994 new 11kV substations in 2025, a 30 percent jump from 2024, as the emirate’s power utility races to keep pace with one of the world’s fastest-growing urban economies.
DEWA had commissioned 1,530 such substations in 2024, itself an 8.2 percent increase over the previous year. The figure stood at 1,414 in 2023, when the total network of medium-voltage substations across Dubai reached 44,015. The cumulative count now stands at 47,060, reflecting the scale and pace at which Dubai is wiring itself for the future.
The year-on-year acceleration tells a story about Dubai that goes beyond electricity. Over the past decade, the emirate has transformed from a regional trading hub into a global destination for technology firms, financial institutions, and millions of new residents, each placing fresh demands on infrastructure that must be planned years in advance. DEWA has responded by scaling its grid expansion annually while simultaneously recording some of the world’s lowest electricity loss rates, setting a global milestone in 2023 with an electricity line loss of just two percent and customer minutes lost of 1.06 minutes annually per customer.
MD and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said the rollout supports demand forecasts through 2030 and aligns with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 and the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan. Work on the substations last year consumed more than 1.45 million working hours, carried out under strict health and safety protocols, according to Rashid Bin Humaidan, Executive Vice President of Distribution Power.
