For business · Offices to warehouses
Solar for Dubai businesses: cut an operating cost, not a capital budget
Above 10,000 kWh a month, DEWA's commercial rate jumps 65%. Rooftop solar removes those expensive units first, from AED 0 upfront under a PPA.
The tariff cliff
DEWA's commercial tariff has one step, and it is steep
Homes climb four slabs. Businesses face a single cliff at 10,000 kWh a month. Everything above it costs 65% more per unit, and for most growing operations that is where the real money sits.
0–10,000 kWh/month 23 fils/kWh
10,001+ kWh/month 38 fils/kWh
A fuel surcharge of about 6 fils applies to every unit on top of the slabs. Verify current rates at dewa.gov.ae.
Put numbers on it: a business using 20,000 kWh a month pays roughly AED 7,300: 10,000 kWh at 23 fils, 10,000 kWh at 38 fils, plus the surcharge on all of it. Because solar displaces the dearest units first, the first half of that roof's output earns at the high rate, not the standard one.
Estimates, not a quote. Final figures depend on a site survey and DEWA approval. The savings calculator takes your floor area or your actual bill.
The finance case
A PPA turns an energy problem into a procurement decision
No capital request, no depreciation schedule, no maintenance line. Under a power purchase agreement the system is our asset on your roof; you simply buy its output at a rate 25% below your blended DEWA rate.
AED 0 capex
We finance, install, own, insure and maintain the system for the term. Your capital stays in stock, staff and growth, the things it was budgeted for.
Opex down from day one
The saving starts with the first month's invoice, not after a payback period. Every solar kWh you consume was bought cheaper than the DEWA units it replaced.
A predictable rate
One agreed per-kWh rate, with any escalation stated in figures before you sign. Energy becomes a line you can forecast instead of a line you explain each summer.
Prefer to own the asset and take the full saving? Commercial turnkey pricing runs around AED 2,400 per kWp; see how buying a system pays back, or start with how the AED 0-upfront PPA works.
Peak shaving and demand management with batteries
Demand management
Peak shaving: flatten the spikes your equipment causes
Chillers starting, compressors cycling, production lines ramping: commercial loads spike, and spikes shape both your infrastructure needs and your costs. A battery charged from your solar discharges into those peaks, smoothing the load your connection has to serve.
For sites running diesel generators for backup or peak support, batteries do the same job silently, instantly and without fuel logistics.
Storage that earns its keep
Batteries are a tool here, not an accessory
For homes, storage is mostly about backup. For business it is an operational instrument: load smoothing for sensitive equipment, ride-through for critical processes, and control over when you draw from the grid.
ESG & reporting
A sustainability number you can put in front of an auditor
The UAE has a stated national target: Net Zero by 2050. Dubai's Shams Dubai programme is part of the path there, and rooftop solar is one of the few ESG actions that pays for itself while it reports.
Measured, not estimated
Your system's generation is metered under Shams Dubai, so the grid electricity it displaces is a recorded figure: kWh you can carry into sustainability reporting, tenders and client questionnaires without adjectives.
Aligned with where the UAE is going
Procurement teams and international clients increasingly ask suppliers for energy and emissions data. Generating on your own roof, grid-connected under DEWA's own programme, is a factual answer rather than a pledge.
The roof as an asset
Your warehouse roof is the cheapest land you own
Warehouse and industrial roofs are large, flat, unshaded and structurally simple, close to ideal for solar. As a rule of thumb, usable roof takes about 1 kWp of panels per 90 sq ft.
What a typical roof holds
A 30,000 sq ft roof holds roughly 330 kWp. At Dubai's yield of about 1900 kWh per kWp per year, that is in the region of 630,000 kWh a year: generation that can exceed the building's own daytime load, with the surplus exported and credited under Shams Dubai net metering.
Estimates, not a quote. Final figures depend on a site survey and DEWA approval.
Own it or lease the output
Buy the system and the roof becomes a productive asset at commercial pricing of around AED 2,400 per kWp. Or take the PPA and the roof cuts your energy cost with no capital at all. The full working is in our warehouse rooftop solar guide.
Who we fit
Offices, retail, industrial: the load profile decides the design
Offices
Office demand (cooling, lifts, IT) peaks in exactly the hours solar produces. Daytime-heavy loads make offices the cleanest match: most generation is consumed on site, at your marginal DEWA rate.
Retail
Long opening hours, constant cooling and lighting, and customer-facing sustainability value. Retail roofs and canopies are often underused; the units they generate displace consumption that runs seven days a week.
Industrial & warehouse
The biggest roofs and often the biggest bills. Systems scale to multi-megawatt installations, and where generation outruns daytime load, net metering credits the surplus against night shifts.
Your energy cost has a flat, sunlit
solution directly above it.
Run your floor area or your actual bill through the calculator, or send the form and an engineer will email figures for both routes after a free survey.