UAE is in the vanguard for green energy
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE HAS EARNED ADMIRATION AND RESPECT OF THE WORLD
With a tap on a smartphone a driverless electric car will arrive at a resident’s doorstep and take him or her wherever he or she wants to go inside Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
This is one of the many modes of sustainable transportation that will be operational in the city when the developments are completed.
Apart from transportation, innovations to find sustainable solutions in almost all areas of life are experimented at this low- carbon city, which is being built by Masdar, a commercially driven renewable energy company.
Masdar, or the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is a strategic government initiative established in 2006 with a mission to invest, incubate and establish the new energy industry in Abu Dhabi and around the world.
Playing an important role in extending Abu Dhabi’s energy leadership beyond hydrocarbons, Masdar has adopted an integrated, holistic business model – merging higher education, research and development, investment and sustainable living.
The latest achievement of Masdar is indicative of its importance in the history of the UAE. A nation that has been known for its oil exports for decades is a pioneer now in renewable energy. Masdar is responsible for delivering nearly 1GW ( gigawatt) of clean power across the globe in various projects.
Raised eyebrows
Many eyebrows were raised when the Abu Dhabi Government announced its plans to invest $ 15 billion ( Dh55.05 billion) in Masdar in 2006. Critics from the region itself had said the renewable energy would hurt the UAE economy which depends on huge oil exports.
“But the same people who criticised us followed suit very soon,” according to Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, CEO and Managing Director of Masdar and UAE Minister of State.
Masdar City will house the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency ( Irena), the first international agency to be headquartered in the Middle East.
Masdar’s international wind and solar projects in Spain, the United Kingdom, Mauritania and other countries show its growing acceptance. Masdar is responsible for 12 per cent of installed Concentrated Solar Power ( CSP) capacity in the world. Masdar’s projects represent an estimated 68 per cent of the Gulf’s renewable energy capacity.
The low- carbon city is being built on a 600- hectare plot of land close to Abu Dhabi International Airport.