Tapping renewables is the way to go

2015 saw record worldwide investment and implementation of clean energy such as wind, solar and hydropower. This might have been driven by strategic sustainable development plans that aim to reduce dependence on fossil energy, with an ultimate goal set on the reduction of CO2 emissions. Prompted by environment awareness and sustainability plans, many countries have started to opt for renewables. Clean energy investment increased in 2015 to about $286bn, with solar energy accounting for 56% of the total and wind power for 38%.
Developing nations invested $156 billion in renewables in 2015 — a 19% increase on the year before, and more than all richer nations combined. China was on top, pumping more money into the sector than any other country, and building more wind, hydropower, and solar than anywhere else.
Jamaica, Honduras, Uruguay and Mauritania were among the highest investors, relative to their GDP. African and Latin American countries also set some of the world’s most ambitious targets for clean energy deployment last year, the report says. Costa Rica and Chile are doing wonders.
The GCC region is also in full swing to develop the sector. Saudi Arabia recently announced its goal to have 9 gigawatts of solar energy by 2023, while the UAE is seeing major movement with Dubai’s 3,000 megawatt solar park and the latest 350MW solar tender in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE is looking forward to increasing its target for power generation from clean energy to 30 percent by 2030. “What we know is that at least 25 per cent of electricity is going to be from both nuclear and solar,” Suhail Al Mazrouei, the energy minister, said after a ceremony to launch the third annual State of Energy report.
Four new South Korean-designed nuclear reactors are due to come online between 2017 and 2020, each with generating capacity of 1,400 megawatts. They will provide an estimated 25 per cent of the country’s electricity demand by 2020, replacing primarily the natural gas-generated electricity that makes up the bulk of power generation at present.
On Thursday, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said it was launching Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects to generate 1,000 megawatts of energy by 2030 as part of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park.
Facts show the oil sector was edged last year. While employment in the clean energy sector grew by 6% in 2015, jobs in the oil industry contracted by 18%, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Christine Lins, REN21’s chief, said, “What is truly remarkable about these results is that they were achieved at a time when fossil fuel prices were at historic lows, and renewables remained at a significant disadvantage in terms of government subsidies.”
The UAE has ventured into renewable energy and invested heavily in the emerging sector, especially at a time when the oil prices were on record high.
It wasn’t by chance that Masdar positioned Abu Dhabi and the UAE as the epicentre of renewable energy in the GCC and the Middle East. It quickly demonstrated its leadership and commitment to investing holistically in the renewables to develop the entire country. The UAE leadership foresaw future in the renewable energies to spark the sustainable development.
Of course, it is exciting how strategic planning delivers. The seeds sown in 2006 in Abu Dhabi to invest in the renewables are about to yield harvest in form of cleaner energy, new technologies and high-value jobs.