AI Revolutionizes Clean Water and Energy at WETEX 2026: Innovations and Challenges Ahead

Artificial intelligence (AI) dominated discussions on the second day of Dubai ’s Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (WETEX), held this week at the Dubai World Trade Centre. While AI currently presents challenges with water consumption and increased electricity demand, the consensus at WETEX is not to halt its progress but to innovate solutions that AI itself can help develop. Companies like Lucy Electric, PwC Middle East, and Thermax Limited are actively exploring how AI can be specifically designed to enhance the efficiency of energy and water systems, rather than simply increasing their workload.

Key challenges highlighted at WETEX include the rapid pace of AI deployment and the corresponding need to build energy infrastructure capable of supporting it. Wissam Mahfouz, partner for technology consulting at PwC Middle East, led a roundtable on resilience asset management, gathering experts from the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Abu Dhabi's Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), TAQA, Siemens, and Hitachi. Mahfouz noted the rarity of such collaborative discussions in professional settings, emphasizing DEWA's call for collective partnership in finding solutions.

Mahfouz also believes AI augments human capabilities, citing his own experience where AI has reduced analysis and report generation time from weeks to mere hours, without replacing his role. He anticipates that AI will become more efficient in the coming years, despite its current high energy and water consumption, especially with the UAE's plans to power data centers with solar energy.

Lucy Electric showcased its Synapse platform, which uses machine learning and digital twin simulation to monitor underground power cables. General manager Charbel Zouein explained that the system can predict potential cable failures with high probability, enabling preventive maintenance and avoiding unplanned shutdowns for utilities like DEWA. Lucy Electric also presented its new switchgear range, utilizing a proprietary atmospheric gas with zero global warming potential as an alternative to SF6.

Ashish Bhandari, managing director and chief executive of Thermax Limited, addressed the broader context of clean energy, water, and air pollution control in the Middle East. He highlighted Thermax's Edge Live platform, which uses AI and machine learning to optimize performance from existing assets. A particularly interesting application for desalination was also presented: recovering valuable salts from brine reject streams for use in chemical industries, a concept that garnered significant visitor interest.

Bhandari echoed the sentiment that progress, like AI adoption, is inevitable and comparable to the use of cars or air conditioning. The focus, he argued, should be on making AI less resource-intensive and minimizing its environmental impact. Chris Ren, chairman of Sunten Electric Equipment Co., noted that AI is integrated into the product development of major manufacturers, with Siemens reportedly reducing labor requirements by half in some AI-driven automation systems. Sunten is investing in transformers specifically designed for AI data center needs, seeing a natural synergy between AI's power demands and the geographic distribution of clean energy sources.

Chirag Patel, managing partner and director at Emirates Transformer & Switchgear, emphasized that customer needs drive long-term investment strategies, with his company expanding into data centers and renewable energy. The innovations presented at WETEX—from predictive maintenance systems to advanced desalination processes and AI-optimized transformers—represent investments in future demands. As Mahfouz concluded, the focus on AI's potential negatives should be balanced with its significant contributions to decarbonization and clean energy targets.