Green energy revolution in the Gulf?

Deutsche Welle, 21 February 2013

Climate conference in Qatar, IRENA headquarters in Abu Dhabi – the oil-rich countries in the Gulf are getting into renewable energy. But is it just greenwashing or the beginnings of a post-oil era?

In the middle of a desert area 140 kilometers outside the oil centre Abu Dhabi, row on row of curved mirrors sparkle in the blazing sun. SHAMS1, the first Concentrated Solar Power or CSP plant in the Middle East will soon provide up to 20,000 homes with climate-friendly power.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi aims to cover seven percent of its energy needs with renewables by 2020. Neighbouring Dubai has a target of five percent. Qatar, the world's biggest exporter of liquid petroleum gas (lpg) aims at 20 percent by 2030, and the oil giant Saudi Arabia aims to cover almost a third of its consumption with renewables by 2032.

What lies behind the green energy interest?

Renewables make sense for the Gulf,
says Wouters

The International Renewable Energies Agency (IRENA), set up two years ago, has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The decision to locate there was a "very significant one", Deputy Director-General Frank Wouters told Deutsche Welle. He argues that using solar power in the Gulf region makes plain economic sense. For a country like Saudi Arabia, he says, it is much cheaper than burning expensive diesel at more than 100 dollars a barrel to produce electricity.

Allan Walker agrees. The Executive Director of Masdar Investment in Abu Dhabi also insists that it is not just greenwashing when oil producers invest in renewables. "We are not doing this unless we make a return on our investments", said Walker, who has also worked in financing oil, gas and coal-fired power projects.

Improving  on a  giant ecological footprint

The Gulf states are amongst the countries with the world's highest per-capita CO2 emissions. "We are a young nation, in growth mode, and that is energy intensive", says Bader Al Lamki, Director of the "Clean Energy Business Unit" at Masdar. He also cites the very harsh climatic conditions as a cause of the country's high energy consumption for air-conditioning and the desalination of sea water.

Bader Al Lamki sees future potential
in solar

Now, Abu Dhabi is introducing energy-saving measures and planning to broaden its energy mix to include renewables.

"This country has a legacy of being a world energy player. It has been supplying hydrocarbon resources to the world for the last four to five decades, and this is one of the cornerstones of why we are stepping into renewables", Al Lamki told Deutsche Welle during a tour of the SHAMS1 CSP plant, which is being built jointly by Masdar, Total and the Spanish company Abengoa Solar.

Abu Dhabi also believes the new sector will create jobs and education opportunities for its population, said Al Lamke.

Solar modules are still rare on the rooftops of Abu Dhabi. Photovoltaics is not yet attractive to individual consumers, according to German energy expert Simon Breuniger, who has worked with Masdar for four years. He says the authorities are now considering a feed-in-tariff along the lines of the one which helped solar power make a breakthrough in Germany, but which may be cut back due to rising costs as ever more households invest in solar modules.

Masdar City in Abu Dhabi will rely entirely on renewable energy sources

Green investments abroad

Renewables are not just of interest to Abu Dhabi for domestic power generation. The expanding international market provides a promising investment opportunity. Masdar is involved in building state-of-the-art solar plants in Spain and owns 20 percent of the "London Array", the world's biggest offshore wind farm, off the coast of England.

This funding power could be the wealthy region's most important contribution to the global expansion of renewable energies, says Laurence Tubiana, head of the Paris-based Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). Presenting the UN Network for Sustainable Development Solutions at Sustainability Week in Abu Dhabi in January, Tubiana said even if the transition in the region itself was a slow one, the Gulf states' willingness to invest in innovative technologies which would only make a return in the longer term would help renewables to become competitive.

Climate change – in more ways than one?

Tubiana has been involved in the UN climate negotiations since 1997. She says she has observed a change in the stance of some Gulf countries, like Qatar and Abu Dhabi. She believes they have recognised the need to take action.

EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard agrees there has been progress in the region. During an energy summit in Abu Dhabi in January, she told DW that the progress was encouraging. "Due to the need to diversify their economies, due to the lack of water and the climate change are actually beginning to experience,  they are not only talking about renewables. They are doing more research, demonstration projects, large-scale investments, efficiency measures."

She added that while the countries "are definitely not there yet", the region was very different to just a few years ago. 

Related Articles:

Solar power sparks innovation in oil-rich Qatar

Saudi Arabia reveals plans to be powered entirely by renewable energy

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version) 

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version) - New

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)