Abu Dhabi Sets Renewable Energy Goal: 7% by 2020

ABU DHABI -- Abu Dhabi wants 7 percent of the electricity it generates to come from renewable sources by 2020. The emirate expects most, if not all, of that renewable energy to come from solar, said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar Monday.

Jaber announced the emirate’s renewable energy goal during an opening remark at the World Future Energy Summit, a three-day conference and exhibition in Abu Dhabi that is expected to bring 15,000 people. The conference schedule is packed with executives from large and startup greentech companies in solar, wind, geothermal, water and others.

Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates, came up with the 7 percent figure by figuring out what renewable energy sources are abundant and available to the kingdom by the Persian Gulf. Wind energy isn’t a great fit, but solar is, said Ziad Tassabehji, director of the utilities and asset management business at Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s ambitious greentech initiative.

Masdar already has announced a plant to build a 100-megawatt solar thermal power plant using parabolic trough technology. Its project to build a new, 6.5-square-kilometer city also includes plans to build 240 megawatts worth of renewable energy when it’s complete in 2016. About 80 percent of the power will come from both crystalline silicon and thin-film solar panels (see Abu Dhabi Picks Suntech, First Solar for 10MW Solar Farm in Masdar City).

Masdar began building the new city, called Masdar City, only last year, and the first tenants aren’t scheduled to move until this fall. It’s currently erecting a 10-megawatt solar power plant to run construction activities.

Exactly how Abu Dhabi plans to achieve the 7 percent goal remains to be seen. Al Jaber said the emirate would release an action plan later. It would take about $6 billion to $8 billion by 2020 to achieve the goal, he added.