The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has formally accomplished its first commercial-sized wind challenge – and controversy has surfaced about its fossil gasoline facet offers forward of COP28. 

The UAE Wind Program

The 117.5-megawatt (MW) “UAE Wind Program” challenge, inaugurated in early October, spans 4 places. It consists of 103.5 MW of wind and 14 MW of photo voltaic in complete: Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi (45 MW plus 14 MW of photo voltaic, pictured above); Delma Island (27 MW); Al Sila in Abu Dhabi (27 MW); and Al Halah in Fujairah (4.5 MW).

The state-owned renewable power agency, the Abu Dhabi Future Vitality Firm (Masdar), owns the UAE Wind Program. It was constructed by China’s state-owned Energy Building Company of China (PowerChina), which introduced the challenge’s completion at this time, and Beijing-based international wind turbine maker GoldWind.

Masdar says the UAE Wind Program can energy greater than 23,000 houses yearly.

Electrek’s Take

There are six levels of separation between COP28 and the UAE Wind Program:

Sultan Al Jaber is the incoming UN local weather change convention COP28 president. He chairs Masdar and was its founding chief government.

Jaber can also be the CEO of the UAE’s state oil firm, the Abu Dhabi Nationwide Oil Firm – the world’s Twelfth-biggest oil firm by manufacturing. An oil CEO heading up COP28 is rightly sticking within the craws of many COP28 attendees and local weather change teams. The UAE doesn’t suppose it is a battle of curiosity as a result of it takes an all-of-the-above method to power.

In reality, the BBC reported at this time that it’s obtained leaked paperwork that point out that the UAE “deliberate to make use of its function because the host of UN local weather talks as a possibility to strike oil and fuel offers” with 15 nations – and the UAE workforce didn’t deny it.

The BBC additionally writes that the “briefings present the UAE additionally ready speaking factors on business alternatives for its state renewable power firm, Masdar, forward of conferences with 20 nations.” (To state the plain, the “neutral” COP28 host shouldn’t be doing facet offers in any respect.)

As I famous on November 17, “The UAE Vitality Technique 2050 targets an power mixture of 44% clear power, 38% fuel, 12% “clear coal” (sure, it actually says that), and 6% nuclear.” Regardless of the presence of fifty% fossil fuels, it says it would turn into carbon impartial by 2050.

However Dalal Matar Al Shamsi, a pure assets specialist within the geology division of United Arab Emirates College, advised Reuters in October that “at this time, the UAE is engaged on a number of fronts; nuclear power, photo voltaic power and now wind. So if we took all of this into consideration, we anticipate promising outcomes by 2071, the UAE’s centennial.”

Internet zero by 2071. Go UAE. Let’s hope Jaber goals increased for the remainder of the world than he does for his personal nation.

Learn extra: The world’s largest single-site photo voltaic farm simply got here on-line

Photograph: UAE Wind Program

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