Mideast energy boom boosts trans-national partnerships
Abu Dhabi - Several multi-national partnerships for promoting renewable energy solutions have been sealed at the ongoing three-day annual World Future Energy Summit (WFES) which hosts over 900 exhibitors.
Source : https://www.emouaten.com/english/Mideast-energy-bo...
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates, the summit's host country, and New Zealand signed a partnership agreement that pledges 100 million U.S. dollars for the deployment of global projects in the fields of solar power, wind energy and hydro energy. Both sides said the bilateral cooperation will identify projects that demonstrate the economic and technical viability of renewable energy in developing countries.
Masdar (Arabic for source), Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, will implement the projects on behalf of the UAE. "This partnership allows New Zealand and the UAE to work even closer together over the next three years as we expand energy access throughout the Pacific and other regions," said Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE minister of state and chief executive of Masdar.
Masdar also partnered up with the European Investment Bank (EIB) , whose vice-president Philippe de Fontaine Vive said his bank " supports projects that make a significant contribution to economic growth, regional integration and environmental sustainability."
The Masdar Institute, the research arm of Masdar, joined forces with British energy giant BP. Both sides agreed to jointly contribute 7 million dollars over six years in Masdar Institute- based innovation and entrepreneurship programs.
Earlier in the day, Paul van Son, chief executive of Desertec, a Munich-based firm which consults and coordinates renewable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) told Xinhua that the mentality in the Arab countries has shifted in favor of green energy.
"Four years ago, we found sometimes doors closed upon our initiatives. Today, our expertise and network is demanded from Morocco to the Gulf Arab region," he said. Von Son explained that the Arab oil exporters aim to reduce own consumption of hydrocarbons in order to export more oil and gas, while Arab oil importer like Morocco, Jordan or Egypt are in urgent need to reduce fuel subsidies which weigh on public budgets.
Desertec which is jointly owned by 30 private shareholders including Germany's Deutsche Bank, Shell Petroleum or Italy's UniCredit bank, aims to support the construction of a network of wind energy and solar energy parks in the MENA region so that by 2050 green energy can be exported from the sun-rich region to Europe.
"We see here at the WFES huge interest from solar firms from China as they are keen to partner up with governments and energy firms in the MENA region in order to sell their solutions and to participate in Desertec," said van Son.
On Monday, the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding with Denmark. The two countries agreed on nine areas of collaboration to advance renewable energy and sustainability globally.
Saudi Arabia's technology and development company Taqnia announced at the WFES that it acquired 50 percent of Sun and Life, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's ACWA holding, a regional developer in the water and power sectors.
Taqnia CEO Abdullah Taibah said the acquisition was a "huge move" for Saudi Arabia, a major oil supplier, to move into renewables. He added that new projects would serve the government' s plan to diversify the domestic use of renewable energy with a target of 41 gigawatts of solar projects to be operational by 2030.
On Saturday, the 165-member International Renewable Energy Assembly (IRENA) launched REmap, an initiative which aims to double the share of renewables in the global energy mix to 30 percent by 2030. At the current pace of progress, renewables would by then make up only 21 percent of the global energy mix.
IRENA Director General Adnan Z. Amin urged the international community to remove the roadblocks for more cooperation to be forged. "Green energy is complex and it requires huge investments which no nation can burden alone." he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/21/c_133063448.htm
Masdar (Arabic for source), Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, will implement the projects on behalf of the UAE. "This partnership allows New Zealand and the UAE to work even closer together over the next three years as we expand energy access throughout the Pacific and other regions," said Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE minister of state and chief executive of Masdar.
Masdar also partnered up with the European Investment Bank (EIB) , whose vice-president Philippe de Fontaine Vive said his bank " supports projects that make a significant contribution to economic growth, regional integration and environmental sustainability."
The Masdar Institute, the research arm of Masdar, joined forces with British energy giant BP. Both sides agreed to jointly contribute 7 million dollars over six years in Masdar Institute- based innovation and entrepreneurship programs.
Earlier in the day, Paul van Son, chief executive of Desertec, a Munich-based firm which consults and coordinates renewable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) told Xinhua that the mentality in the Arab countries has shifted in favor of green energy.
"Four years ago, we found sometimes doors closed upon our initiatives. Today, our expertise and network is demanded from Morocco to the Gulf Arab region," he said. Von Son explained that the Arab oil exporters aim to reduce own consumption of hydrocarbons in order to export more oil and gas, while Arab oil importer like Morocco, Jordan or Egypt are in urgent need to reduce fuel subsidies which weigh on public budgets.
Desertec which is jointly owned by 30 private shareholders including Germany's Deutsche Bank, Shell Petroleum or Italy's UniCredit bank, aims to support the construction of a network of wind energy and solar energy parks in the MENA region so that by 2050 green energy can be exported from the sun-rich region to Europe.
"We see here at the WFES huge interest from solar firms from China as they are keen to partner up with governments and energy firms in the MENA region in order to sell their solutions and to participate in Desertec," said van Son.
On Monday, the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding with Denmark. The two countries agreed on nine areas of collaboration to advance renewable energy and sustainability globally.
Saudi Arabia's technology and development company Taqnia announced at the WFES that it acquired 50 percent of Sun and Life, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's ACWA holding, a regional developer in the water and power sectors.
Taqnia CEO Abdullah Taibah said the acquisition was a "huge move" for Saudi Arabia, a major oil supplier, to move into renewables. He added that new projects would serve the government' s plan to diversify the domestic use of renewable energy with a target of 41 gigawatts of solar projects to be operational by 2030.
On Saturday, the 165-member International Renewable Energy Assembly (IRENA) launched REmap, an initiative which aims to double the share of renewables in the global energy mix to 30 percent by 2030. At the current pace of progress, renewables would by then make up only 21 percent of the global energy mix.
IRENA Director General Adnan Z. Amin urged the international community to remove the roadblocks for more cooperation to be forged. "Green energy is complex and it requires huge investments which no nation can burden alone." he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/21/c_133063448.htm
Source : https://www.emouaten.com/english/Mideast-energy-bo...