Here’s how installing solar panels on your roof can help save you money

The Dubai Shams initiative wants to help transform your humble abode into a sustainable smart home of the future…

The fact that we live in a desert that has almost zero per cent cloud coverage all year round should make Dubai a prime candidate for solar power.

That’s the idea behind Shams Dubai, a smart initiative by DEWA designed to give the city’s citizens and residents the opportunity to take advantage of the all-sun-all-the-time nature of the UAE by turning their regular residences into sustainable ones, and maybe even make a little profit in the process.

Shams Dubai encourages DEWA customers to install photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of their premises, potentially generating enough power to run lights and other electronics throughout the house. Any surplus solar power can be exported back to the main electricity grid, which will then be deducted from a customer’s future bill. Ka-ching!

This all falls in line with the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which looks to generate 7 per cent of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050.

Curious about getting solar panels installed on your villa?

DEWA has developed a ‘calculator’, available via their website, that lets you navigate to your premises via a detailed map of Dubai and can give you useful information such as the number of solar panels you will need, the amount of electricity those panels would produce (both monthly and annually), and even how many trees on average you’d be saving. It’s pretty cool to try out, even if you don’t plan on getting any solar panels installed.