Effective regulatory regime in the United Arab Emirates

Developing an effective regulatory regime to foster ESCO development and establishment in Dubai.

Client
Regulatory & Supervisory Bureau (RSB), Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Background
Dubai has an ambitious target to improve the efficiency of energy use in the Emirate, aiming to achieve 30% energy efficiency by 2030. Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) are seen as a potentially valuable way of delivering energy savings.

However, at the moment the market is largely untapped. In order to encourage ESCOs uptake amongst the developers, an effective regulatory regime needed to be established that would protect the relevant parties and encourage cooperation between the relevant stakeholders. RSB was looking for an advisor who would be able to develop the ESCO regulatory regime.

Project description
The project focused on developing an effective regulatory regime to foster ESCO development and establishment in Dubai. As part of the project we developed a comprehensive regulatory system for ESCOs in Dubai, which included an Accreditation Scheme, Standard Measurement and Verification Protocol specific to Dubai, Shared and Guaranteed Savings Contract templates and a Dispute Resolution system.

For the project to be successful intensive stakeholder management and collaboration was required. Through this process stakeholders were encouraged to provide their feedback on the proposed ideas, thus ensuring the comprehensiveness of the regulation.

Services provided by DNV
DNV was leading the project and was responsible for the creation of ESCO Accreditation Scheme, development of Measurements and Verification Standard and full stakeholder management. With the support from a local law firm Shared and Guaranteed Savings Contract templates and a Dispute Resolution system was developed.

DNV ensured full transparency of the project liaising with representatives from over 30 institutions including regulation authorities and governmental institutions (DEWA, Dubai Municipality, Supreme Council of Energy, Dubai Airport), financing institutions (Standard Chartered, Emirates NBD), property developers, ESCOs and building owners and managers.

All of the feedback was analysed by DNV and addressed as needed, informing the stakeholders of the outcome of their suggestions. In order to ensure acceptance of the regulation bilateral (face-to-face) meetings with the key stakeholders were also held. As a result of our approach, the ESCO regulation has now been approved by the governmental bodies of Dubai and several companies have already gained the accreditation.