UAE channels oil money into alternative energy

Yahoo – AFP, Wissam Keyrouz, 23 Nov 2015

Workers clean the front of a building in Masdar City, on the outskirts of the

rich Emirate of Abu Dhabi, on October 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Rising from the desert outside Abu Dhabi, Masdar city is laying the groundwork for when the United Arab Emirates' oil wells run dry.

Driverless electric cars shuttle between energy-saving buildings topped with arrays of solar panels.

Traditional Arabic architecture mixes with modern technology, as narrow shaded alleys run between brick-coloured buildings, focusing the wind and keeping temperatures low.

On the edge of the complex, a 10-megawatt solar farm lined with photovoltaic panels provides clean energy.

Rising from the desert outside Abu Dhabi, 

Masdar city is laying the groundwork for

when the United Arab Emirates' oil wells run 

dry (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

First announced in 2007, Masdar city in the suburbs of Abu Dhabi has not yet become the city of 40,000 authorities promised, with only a few hundred people, mainly students, in residence.

But the complex -- which hosts the International Renewable Energy Association Agency (IRENA) and the Masdar Institute for Science and Technology -- is at the forefront of the UAE's efforts to focus on renewables.

The company that bears its name has invested huge sums on green energy -- an unusual move for a country better known as an oil and gas producer and exporter.

Sitting on 5.9 percent of the world's oil reserves and 3.1 percent of its natural gas, the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, is a key player in the global energy market.

The discovery of commercial quantities of oil in the UAE in the late 1950s transformed the area, turning a few pearl-diving towns wedged between the Gulf and the desert into an economic powerhouse.

But its rulers know the oil won't last forever, with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan warning earlier this year that the country's last tanker load will be exported in 50 years.

"We understood that for us to maintain our leadership in the (energy) sector, we have to get into renewable, and we have done that," Masdar chief executive officer Ahmad Belhoul told AFP.

'Leveraging its resources'

Nawal al-Hosany, head of sustainability at Masdar, said the UAE had an "ambitious" plan for "leveraging its resources from the hydrocarbon industry into this new sector."

The UAE says it is expecting to invest $35 billion in non-hydrocarbon energy by 2020, including $20 billion on the Barakah 5.4-gigawatt nuclear power project.

Masdar has joined a number of clean energy projects abroad, Hosany said, investing some of the massive reserves the UAE has built up over the years.

"The UAE became the only OPEC country that not only exports oil but also exports renewable energy around the world," she said.

Masdar is a partner in the 20-megawatt Gemasolar power plant in southern Spain, the world's first solar power station that generates electricity at night.

Emiratis walk in Masdar City, on the outskirts of the rich Emirate of Abu Dhabi, 

on October 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

It also has a 20 percent share in the London Array wind power project, which has a capacity to generate 630 megawatts, enough to power nearly half a million homes in Britain.

At home, Masdar spent $600 million to build the Shams 1 plant, the world's largest concentrated solar power plant, west of Abu Dhabi, with a capacity to generate 100 megawatts.

It also supported the Solar Impulse bid to fly a solar-powered plane around the world in a trip that took off from Abu Dhabi in March but had to be called off in Hawaii due to a battery fault.

In total, Masdar says it is participating in projects that will eventually generate 1.5 gigawatts of power.

"Over the past five years, the UAE channelled $840 million into renewable energy projects in 25 countries," said Thani al-Zeyoudi, the head of energy and climate change at the UAE foreign ministry.

"We look at this from a development perspectives, not just commercial," said Zeyoudi, who is also the UAE's permanent representative to IRENA.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks during the Gulf Intelligence

UAE Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on January 13, 2015 (AFP Photo)

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"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.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”