UAE leads the way in energy transition

The UAE’s Undersecretary of Energy, His Excellency Dr. Matar Al Niyadi, said the UAE is a leader in energy diversification and that its robust and diverse energy policy would ensure the country remains attractive for foreign investment and continues to support future economic development.

The remarks were made during a high level panel held at the World Energy Congress (WEC) in Daegu, South Korea.Highlighting the UAE’s regional leadership role in the adoption of clean energy, Dr. Matar Al Niyadi, said, “Diversifying our energy mix is the first pillar of our energy policy. To meet immediate demands, we are using more natural gas to generate electricity, because of its clean and efficient burning properties.

The Undersecretary also highlighted the important role of renewables: "The UAE was the first country in the Middle East to announce renewable energy targets, whichwill see 2.5 GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2030. We expect these targets to be met with solar, and waste-to-energy and as a major first step, Masdar commissioned Shams 1 in March this year - the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world."

On the UAE's conservation and efficiency policies, Dr. Al Niyadi, said, “Enhancing energy efficiency and our conservation efforts to cut domestic demand and prevent wasteful practices is critical.

"In the UAE, we have the region’s first mandatory green building codes, leading to cuts in energy and water consumption by more than 33% in new buildings. More appliances will soon fall under regulation.

We are also running a large number of pilot schemes in order to develop additional policies in the next few years, including monitoring of water and energy consumptionthrough wireless smart meters, testing of consumption and time-of-day based electricity pricing to offer lower rates for less electricity usage and the establishment of state-funded energy service companies."

On energy security, Dr Al Niyadi said the UAE is investing heavily in its natural gas supplies as the country prepares to utilise gas as a primary source of power generation. "We are spending US$25 billion within the next five years on exploring new gas fields using the latest technology to develop non-associated gas at onshore old oilfields," said Al Niyadi. “Al-Hosn, a joint venture between ADNOC and Occidental, is set to develop the Shah sour gas field which is expected to add 500 million cubic feet of gas per day to the domestic supply by 2014.Mens Nike Cortez