The impressive Dubai waste-to-energy project will be completed in June 2024, becoming the world's largest renewable energy plant, estimated to process 1.9 million tonnes of waste annually into renewable energy. This new facility is a joint venture between BESIX, Belgium’s largest construction company and Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), Dubai Holding, ITOCHU and Tech Group.
Partnering for the first time due to the scale of the project, Sikla UK and Sikla Oceania have successfully worked together to provide modular steel pipe supports to Hitachi Zosen Inova in Switzerland and Hitachi Zosen Corporation (HZC) in Japan. Sikla UK and Oceania are proud to have participated in this extraordinary project, especially with the struggles we faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The World's Largest Renewable Plant
Dubai is currently seeing rapid growth in its population, surpassing 3.5 million in 2022, due to the growing financial and business opportunities. However, a growing population means more waste and less energy – so what do you do? Produce the world’s largest waste management plant!
The new renewable energy plant will provide the city of Dubai with an alternative energy source to turn waste into energy. Building the waste-to-energy plan aligns with the Dubai government’s goals to become the world’s most sustainable city and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.
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With construction starting in 2021 and scheduled to be completed in 2024, the new energy-from-waste plant is expected to process up to 45% of the total municipal waste generated. The forecasted power output, 190MW, will be transferred to the local grid and generate power for 135 000 homes. The new plant is expected to provide 2% of Dubai's total annual electricity consumption, reduce the city’s carbon footprint and divert the volume of non-recyclable waste, that goes to landfill, by 2030.
Phase 1 has already been completed with 2 of the 5 treatment lines commissioned to begin processing waste. When fully completed in 2024, the plant will have the capacity to burn municipality waste from 88 trucks each hour. The ash from burning the waste will be recycled and used for infrastructure projects. Impressive right?
Sikla UK and Oceania join forces
The Dubai EfW project is Sikla UK’s first project with Hitachi Zosen Corporation and our 16th project in 12 years with Hitachi Zosen Innova.
Due to the scale of the proposed project, Sikla UK and Sikla Oceania joined forces, for the first time, to provide significantly lighter support systems compared to traditional steel structures.
Approximately 2 000 fabricated siFramo support frames were assembled by Sikla for Hitachi Zosen's state-of-the-art technology. Each individual frame was pre-fabricated at either our Milton Keynes or Canning Vale warehouses. In addition to the prefabricated frames, the Sikla UK and Oceania teams were able to supply further stock material of around 60 tons (approximately 2 400 frames) to be fabricated on-site by contractors. weighing approximately 100 tons.
This collaboration has been positive for the project due to the global force majeure situation caused by Covid-19 and both countries having a similar shipping time to Dubai of 4 to 6 weeks.
As this was a large project, the design and delivery stages were split into several scopes executed in stages to deliver the right material at the right time for efficient on-site material management - no other project has been split into this many scopes and proved to be practical.
Challenges
Sikla UK started discussions about their initial involvement in the project with HZC towards the end of 2019. Communication was initially slow due to the time difference between the UK and Japan, where HZC is based. This meant that during the early stages of technical and software training, support and commercial discussions needed to be held at 6 AM UK time to accommodate both countries’ time zones.
The project officially started after the Covid-19 outbreak which brought the Sikla UK and Oceania teams many challenges:
- Training
In line with local Covid-19 restrictions, usual in-person meetings had to be cancelled for commercial negotiations. At the time, Sikla had no Dubai-based representative to provide skilled labour training, proactive assistance and support with technical and supply queries
- Material shortages
Shortages and uncertainty in the global commodity market required local manufacturing of certain critical components (as opposed to ordering material from standard manufacturers), which resulted in increased costs and additional coordination and planning
Lead times were significantly longer which required ordering material in advance based on the preliminary build of materials (BOM). Ordering a BOM in advance has certain risks due to the project progressing and BOM becoming outdated
- Freight container shortage
Increased delivery to site times, which required better and further ahead planning
"I recommend Sikla for their high-quality, well-designed products that are functional, durable, and easy to install. Their customized solutions are also remarkable. The company's personnel are knowledgeable and it should be emphasised that the quick and efficient response of the local contact (Mark) was well appreciated. Overall, Sikla is a reliable and trustworthy provider of excellent products and services. I look forward to working with them again in the future."
Eljasa Sinani
Senior TPM & Lead Site Engineering Office (Dubai), Hitachi Zosen Inova AG
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