The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is in partnership with Generac Grid Services to construct the Middle East’s first virtual power plant, and its goals are aggressive and far-reaching. Fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) and incorporating unique blockchain technology, the VPP’s smart network is aggregating distributed energy resources to help meet the city’s clean energy goals and enable its smart city initiatives.

DEWA is focused on increasing efficiency by orchestrating DERs into VPPs that supplement its large-scale renewable deployments with as much as 1,000 MW of new DER capacity.

Read about how VPPs such as this can could save the utility as much as $11.9 million annually in fuel costs — while also reducing emissions linked to climate change — by offsetting just 1% of DEWA’s total online natural gas capacity.