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UAE SPECIAL United Arab Emirates: Initial spark for renewable energies Masdar Initiative and Masdar City herald change for tomorrow’s energy landscape – Mega projects in the area of renewable energies. The Lighthouse: sun and wind energy systems under one roof Animation: Atkins 180 Sun & Wind Energy 3/2008 UAE SPECIAL bout 50 years ago, the first oil fields were dis­ UAE dispose of 8 % of the worldwide resources and the covered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). fifth largest proven oil reserve. The UAE also dispose of Since then, the region has undergone radical the fifth largest natural gas reserve with a volume of change: Shiny crystal palaces and limousines 3.43 trillion m3 – although still far less developed. have taken the place of Bedouin tents and The UAE oil money keeps pouring into endless con­ Acamel herds. But the nation that has over decades feast­ struction projects and yields an impression as if each ed on the export market begins to rethink its future. The emirate were trying to outrun the other with larger and inevitable exhaustion of the natural oil and gas reserves ever more lavish mega projects. While a few years ago along with the problem of serious environmental dam­ the world still marvelled at the world’s only 7 star hotel age have become an issue the government is ready to Burj Al Arab, new challenges are now found at sea. At address. Measures have been taken in form of green the coast of Dubai, artificial island cities such as Palm mega projects to create a new and worldwide Mecca for Jebel Ali, Palm Jumeirah and The World have been con­ renewable energies. In this line, a new »green building« structed, and already a new skyscraper is rising whose rule in Dubai was established to improve the ecological final record height is yet undecided: The Burj Dubai will balance of buildings within the emirate while Abu be completed in 2009 and rake 1,000 metres or more in­ Dhabi’s Masdar Initiative has been pioneering new ave­ to the sky. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, nues for ecological urbanisation. But a truly integral Next, construction of an »Energy and Environment project manager of the ambi- commitment to environmental protection in the region Park« (Enpark) is planned and intended to finish until tious Masdar Initiative is still out of sight. 2010. In this park, which will include office space as well Photos (3): EuPD While less than 170,000 inhabitants were living in as apartments, renewable energies will play a consider­ the sand and stone deserts at the foundation of the able role. At large, Dubai is bringing a total investment UAE in 1971, population has meanwhile exploded to of US$ 300 billion into its construction projects. 4.1 million. About one third are residents of Abu Dhabi, Still, the total picture reveals a systematic approach. the largest emirate in terms of area, one third lives in Combining financial incentives with ideal leisure and Dubai and the remaining are scattered throughout educational infrastructures and modern urban environ­ Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al Quwain, Ras al Khaimah and ments has the goal of attracting experts from every­ Fujairah. Half of the population is under 25 years of the where across the planet and all professional areas. At­ age. Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council expects that the tractive conditions are created for investors in form of capital alone will until 2020 redouble from 930,000 to free trade zones and technology clusters. Different from 2 million inhabitants. Such population boom, however, other countries as, for example, China, this region al­ is not left to chance. As a reaction, mega projects are lows companies to remain entirely in the hands of for­ thought up channelling the growing society into spe­ eign investors. Without income and corporate tax, cap­ cial residential and business districts*. ital and profits can be shifted at any time to any coun­ The region’s power demand is also impressive. About try in the world. As companies are founded without 17,000 kWh is needed in the UAE per capita and year. lengthy licensing procedures, the approach has natural­ And consumption will increase annually by 6.7 % until ly become popular in the emirates. Dubai already dis­ 2030, says Keith Miller, director of Planning & Studies poses of 21 free trade zones. Abu Dhabi is thinking Directorate at the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Com­ about declaring its entire territory a free trade zone. pany (ADWEC). In comparison: The current capacity Even the considerably smaller Sharjah disposes of two ranges at 9,501 MWp. Consequently, the emirate needs such zones totalling 14.5 km2. to make an additional 17,000 MWp available until 2030. As long as the new powers plants remain merely Frameworks for renewable energies sketches on a drawing board, saving energy and effi­ cient resource allocation continue to be the only near Due to the rich oil and natural gas reserves in the UAE, term solutions. At present, the UAE is planning to asso­ renewable energies have been playing a rather subor­ ciate network operators and interconnect grids to com­ dinate role. At the same time, however, climate condi­ pensate regional fluctuations. Additionally, progressive tions of 360 days of sunshine and global radiation rates tariffs have been introduced with March 2008 to moti­ with annually 2,200 kWh/m2 at average make solar en­ vate consumers into an economical and efficient hand­ ergy an interesting option. Daytime temperatures that ling of energy. After the increase, prices have surged to hit 50 degrees in the summer place ideal conditions for 20 and 33 Fils/kWh (€ct 3.4 and €ct 5.6) varying with the PV systems, which can compensate the high energy de­ level of consumption in either private household or mands caused by air conditioning. Today, air condition­ industry. In order to allow for a smooth changeover of ing and cooling systems make up 70 % of the total en­ the still moderate increase, the original population is ergy demand. excluded from the modifications. This means that only Besides the low prices for conventional energies, the about 20 % of the consumers will be affected. Consid­ decision­making of the sheiks has also lead to an un­ ering the country’s natural resources, these changes dervaluation of solar energy. Intransparent regulations will not bring about too much headache. 72.1 % of the hamper the process. Private consumers, for example, primary energy demand is still covered though natural can attach solar modules to their buildings only if these gas and 27.9 % through oil. With 97.8 billion barrels, the are not connected to the public grid. Considering that * Compare: Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC) Mega pro­ 92 % of all consumers receive their energy through the jects: Electricity demand forecasts. public grid, PV installations are for most part not a real Sun & Wind Energy 3/2008 181 UAE SPECIAL Masdar test facility: about 30 km outside of Abu Dhabi option. At present, a legal regulation for pricing and follow the standards of the US American Leadership in feeding in green energies through the utility compa­ Energy and Environment Design (LEED). nies does not exist, as Majid Al Mansouri, secretary gen­ In expectation of a future market, about 35 solar en­ eral of Environment Agency Abu Dhabi confirms. One ergy companies have settled in the region. One of these example that illustrates the consequences of the miss­ companies is Microsol International in the Fujairah free ing regulatory context is the Solar Tracker in Knowledge trade zone. Microsol is the only solar cell manufacturer Village. The Solar Tracker is a project of the Swedish in the region with a production capacity of 45 MWp. Switchpower that was manufactured by the company Most of the other companies are distributors and sys­ Deger: »As intended, the tracker, equipped with dual tem integrators that have simply added solar products axes, tracks the sun but does not produce electricity be­ to their catalogue of electronic and telecommunication cause it cannot be connected to the grid,« says Andrew technologies. Machirant, business development & communication But also some of the major international solar corpo­ manager at Switchpower. Although the manager is ex­ rations are hiring solar experts for their offices. Addi­ pecting a regulatory change in the future, the exact tionally, manufacturers have begun to rethink the re­ point of time remains unclear. gion and establish their own networks. »Without com­ mercial advertising and corporal presence, solar prod­ »Green Building Initiative« and ucts cannot be retailed in the region,« Jörg Westphal, Masdar – milestones for a new era vice president at Schüco, Germany, explains. European companies, however, do not hold a mo­ Today, activities in the area of PV and solar thermal en­ nopoly. For example, Chinese façade and building spe­ ergy are practically as sparse as desert oases. But ex­ cialists also hope for impulses from the »green building« perts in the region are expecting changes in the future. rule. CG Solar introduced an a­Si thin film module for With the reorganisation of the cabinet in 2006, a Feder­ building integrated solutions to their solar pump pro­ al Environment Ministry was established to formulate duction. With transparencies of 10 % to 25 % these regulations and legal directives for the protection of the modules reach competitive outputs in view of modules environment. At the same time, sheik Mohammed bin with poly­Si and CSI technologies. According to corpo­ Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai enacted a »green build­ rate information, the modules range 7.5 % and 12 % ing« rule for new constructions with effect on January above modules with the latter technologies.

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