Demand for electricity and water continues to grow at a fast pace in the UAE, driven by a steep rise in population, an expanding economy and climatic considerations. In fact, the country has one of the highest per capita consumption rates in the world for both water and electricity. According to the UAE State of Energy Report 2015, UAE residents use about 550 liters of water and 20 to 30 kilowatt-hours of electricity a day compared to the international average of 170 to 300 liters and 15 kWh per day. Many new electricity generation plants have been built in recent years to keep up with burgeoning demand. At present, there is over 27 gig watts (GW) of installed capacity across the seven emirates utilizing natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel available, 50 per cent of which is imported. These power plants are relatively efficient and modern, the majority having been constructed within the last ten years. This means that the UAE currently has one of the lowest carbon intensities (CO2 emitted per kilowatt-hour) in electricity generation in the region and this is also below the global average.
However, the rate of increase in the demand for electricity is expected to slow to an average of 5.5 per cent a year up to 2030 and the rate of increase in water supplied to end-consumers is also expected to fall from its historic average growth of almost 10 per cent a year between 1998 and 2012 to around 2 per cent between 2014 and 2030.