Abu Dhabi to invest $15 billion in Green Energy

January 22, 2008

Masdar City will be constructed in the desert on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. The aims are to use only renewable energy sources, and to eliminate 99% of the waste stream. This artist’s impression shows wind turbines on the edge of the city and public transport links running through.

(Reuters) ABU DHABI – Gulf Arab oil exporter Abu Dhabi plans to spend US$15 billion in the first phase of an initiative to develop green energy and build the world’s largest hydrogen power plant, it said on Monday.
The investment would be part of the Masdar initiative, set up to develop sustainable and clean energy, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan told the World Future Energy Summit(WFES) in the emirate. He gave no time frame.
“I would like to underscore the government of Abu Dhabi’s commitment to the Masdar initiative by announcing an initial investment of US$15 billion,” he said. “Next month ground will be broken on Masdar city, the world’s first carbon-neutral city.”
The money will go into infrastructure, renewable energy projects such as solar power, and manufacturing, to position Abu Dhabi as a leader in the global clean energy market, said Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, or Masdar.
The project includes plans to start building a zero carbon, zero waste city of up to 15,000 residents in the desert in the first quarter of this year. “Achieving a zero carbon city is doable,” Jaber said.
Abu Dhabi, capital of the seven-member United Arab Emirates federation, would also build the world’s largest hydrogen power plant with 500 megawatts of capacity, said Jaber.
Masdar will hold a 60 percent stake in the “multi-billion-dollar joint venture”, a Masdar official said, adding that the rest would be equally held by British Petroleum and Rio Tinto.
The project’s engineering and design would be concluded by the end of 2008, he said.

(BBC) The government of Abu Dhabi has announced a $15bn (£7.5bn) initiative to develop clean energy technologies.
The Gulf state describes the five-year initiative as “the most ambitious sustainability project ever launched by a government”.
Components will include the world’s largest hydrogen power plant.
The government has also announced plans for a “sustainable city”, housing about 50,000 people, that will produce no greenhouse gases and contain no cars. More

US Energy Secretary Bodman Sees Nuclear Energy as Global Alternative
ABU DHABI – Gulf Arab oil exporters and countries around the world should look into nuclear power as an alternative to hydrocarbons, US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Monday. “Nuclear power should be an alternative for Gulf countries and other
countries around the world,” Bodman said in the United Arab Emirates during
a visit.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a green energy conference [WFES] in the UAE, which plans to start a nuclear energy programme.