Following the connection of the solar power plant
(a first in the Middle East), at a cost of $50.3m, Dr.
Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar remarked that,
“the connection of this plant marks an important
milestone in the development of Masdar City and in
our Emirate’s history. We believe this is just the first
delivery of the rich potential of solar energy, and we
will continue to deliver clean sources of energy to Abu
Dhabi and beyond.”
IRENA
Another breakthrough for the Emirate in establishing
its credentials as the go-to place for green energy
know-how globally was the decision to establish the
new headquarters of the International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) in Masdar City itself,
on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City. IRENA is the
first intergovernmental agency concerned with the
promotion of environmentally friendly initiatives.
It is clear that Masdar is open to the receipt of
innovative ideas, but its experience since its inception
has brought it to the point where it does not suffer
fools gladly. In order to expedite their screening
process, they have developed a guide as to how to
submit proposals for consideration. The general tenor
of the document suggests that one must have all due
diligence and feasibility studies conducted and verified
before engaging.
The actual city of Masdar will not be in operation
until 2013, but the MIT linked educational
institution, the “Masdar Institute of Science and
Technology” has started operations on-site and is
using water from Abu Dhabi’s grid. They are keeping
track of the carbon emissions from this water use and
are studying ways to offset them.
“Our goal is to be carbon-neutral by the time the
city is built,” Jay Witherspoon, operations director
and technology leader of CH2M Hill, consultant to
Masdar said. He added that, “the main uses of water
are for district cooling, potable water and irrigation to
make the city green”.
Masdar plans to drill 5,000-meter-deep wells in search
for water hot enough to propel power generators
for the zero-carbon city. The city is expected to
need 12,000 cubic meters of water a day when it is
completed, according to Ameena Al Kulaib, manager
of Masdar’s water department.
Masdar and the World Future Energy Summit
however, do not constitute the entire “green picture”.
Abu Dhabi Inc. has further advanced its green agenda
in typically well coordinated moves throughout
a variety of sectors. One such example is Aabar
Investments foray into the area of electric cars after its
purchase of 4% of Tesla Motors, a leading producer of
electric cars. Aabar, partly owned by the International
Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), one of the
government Sovereign Wealth Funds, bought the
stake from Stuttgart-based Daimler AG, of which
Aabar is a major shareholder.
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