How does the United Arab Emirates supply electricity to it's residents?

The following utility providers supply power & water to their respective service areas

ADWEC = Abu Dhabi water and electricity company

DEWA = Dubai electricity and water authority

SEWA = Sharjah electricity and water authority

FEWA = federal entity services Ajman, Umm Al Quwain , Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah

Some of the above companies also get supplemental power from other plants such as in Dubai the Aluminum company "DUBAL" supplies around 20% of Dubai power from its own industrial activity using steam turbines from evaporating sea water to make aluminum. Additionally there is an undersea gas pipeline known as Dolphin which supplies Dubai industrial area with imported Qatari LNG (liquified natural gas) to power gas substations. The same pipeline also supplies Abu Dhabi as it passes there.

Dubai also has a redundant power grid which allows seamless switch over when there is interruption in supply. Some of the northern emirates still have occasional power failures because of lack of backup grid. This is why FEWA was created by UAE government to take over the supply from local authorities and improve continuity of service in those smaller emirates.

Currently there are ongoing projects to add solar and nuclear energy to UAE power suppliers with first of 4 such nuclear plants expected completion in 2017. Abu Dhabi should be the first emirate to benefit from this project. The additional power will also be used to power electric trains when Etihad rail commences passenger service around same period.