Second Solar Decathlon Middle East of DEWA starts in November 2021

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) will organise the second Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME) for universities in conjunction with EXPO 2020 Dubai. The competition will take place in the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, where DEWA has allocated more than 645,834 sq. ft. for SDME.

The SDME will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council. The main focus of the event is to find solutions to regional problems and to look at the needs of living in the Middle East, which are associated with high air temperatures, high humidity and dust content. Moreover, SDME is a part of a partnership between the DEWA, the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) and the United States Department of Energy. University students will design, build and operate solar-powered houses during the collegiate competition. International teams will have the opportunity to win prizes totaling AED 10M.

There will be ten contests for student teams at SDME – architecture, engineering and building, house functioning, energy management, energy efficiency, sustainability, comfort conditions, communications, innovation and sustainable transport. The pillars of SDME 2021 and Expo 2020 include Sustainability, Clean Energy, Smart Solutions, Future, Innovation, Mobility and Happiness. All these elements must be presented in all solar-powered houses.

In order to provide a sustainable living environment in their housing projects, student teams shall study local environment, bioclimatic architecture and strategies of passive design. All the materials and components of a solar-powered house must have a very low impact on the environment. Buildings themselves have to meet the needs of their residents with minimum consumption of water and energy.

During each stage of the process, energy efficiency (producing enough energy to compensate for its need) will be a key element of home construction, as will passive design strategies. In addition, there will be a focus on providing homes with renewable energy, so international teams must keep in mind the importance of seamless integration of photovoltaic and solar thermal systems into the building plans.

The projects of SDME must include smart technologies, which can drive wise energy management, high energy efficiency and safety of its residents. Systems of each house shall be connected by a smart solutions system and the optimization of the overall performance must be carried out with the use of information technology. Moreover, the interphases of smart solutions have to be user-friendly.

During the competition, the student teams shall evaluate different innovative technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, biomimicry and the Internet of Things and implement them in homes in order to make their projects more efficient and comfortable. Teams will also have to create energy connectivity between the energy-plus buildings and electric transportation systems. Solar homes should be designed to maximize the comfort for people to live in, which, in turn will make them happier. In the SDME, student teams will consider aspects such as sunlight, views, interior/exterior ratios, indoor environmental quality, and so on.

Students and guests of SDME will be able to visit DEWA’s R&D Centre, where they can find different laboratories and workshops including electronic, mechanical and chemical labs, solar-radiation simulation laboratories and a 3D printing lab (the first fully printed onsite building in the world).