OPEC champion boosts renewable portfolio

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Abu Dhabi, one of the most oil-rich places in the world, has decided to make an ambitious push for renewable energy sources.

The leadership of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on Monday announced it would boost the share of renewables in its emirate to 7 percent by 2020.

"The establishment of a long-term renewable energy target for Abu Dhabi builds on the emirate's leadership in energy and sustainability," Mohammed al-Bowardi, a senior Abu Dhabi government official, said in a statement.

Abu Dhabi basks in money from oil, but over the past year it has launched a multifaceted push for renewables and sustainable design through research investments, start-ups and its own ambitious projects.

As a result of these investments and Monday's policy announcement, the Abu Dhabi renewables market is expected to grow to between $6 billion and $8 billion until 2020, according to Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of Masdar Initiative.

The Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company is driven by a $15 billion investment fund set up by the Abu Dhabi leadership in early 2008.

Masdar is using the money to build the world's first zero-carbon, renewable-energy-only city.

Currently being erected next to Abu Dhabi's airport, the $22 billion project will include a research center with ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a 10-MW solar power plant, and some 3 million square meters of roof decked with photovoltaic solar cells.

"Masdar will be at the forefront of the research, development and deployment of solutions that will enable governments around the world, including our own, to meet the targets they are setting for the adoption of renewable energy," said Al Jaber, speaking Monday at the launch of the World Future Energy Summit, a three-day conference on renewable and sustainable energy sources in Abu Dhabi that will draw some 15,000 delegates from all over the world.

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(Stefan Nicola, UPI Europe Correspondent)

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(e-mail: snicola@upi.com)