Dubai: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former Indian president, proposed an India-Dubai joint energy platform with about $700 million (Dh2.56 billion) for research, development and implementation of a green energy solution.
The continuous depletion of fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal reserves — as well as the fluctuation in the price of crude oil has made energy independence imperative.
"The India-Dubai Energy Platform will be a mission-mode partnership with about $700 million funding which would stimulate research, development, marketing, deployment and maintenance of customised and cost-effective solutions in the green energy domain for the two countries."
Such a platform can have participants from the government, corporate and academic institutions, social organisations and R & D agencies as an integrated international social and environment responsibility mission.
Through this platform, Abdul Kalam added, all the initiatives by India and the UAE can be brought together on a common knowledge-sharing platform, synergised according to unique core competencies and marketed across diverse arenas.
"Corporates from India and Dubai and other emirates may actively seek opportunities to support green enterprises as a viable business model and the young professional ... should be encouraged to take up entrepreneurial ventures which help spread the mission of energy independence in the two nations."
He said the two countries can consider creating a research fund to sponsor research in developing high efficiency, robust and versatile green power plants. "Both India and Dubai can invest about $100 million each to this fund which can be a supporter of innovative product development in academic institutions, research laboratories and private sector. This would be made available for application and could be executed on a large scale by the private and public sectors of the two countries."
To bring down the cost and lead Dubai into cleaner energy, he explained how it is essential to convert the present desalination plants in Dubai and other parts of the UAE into solar power driven, in combination with bio-fuels.
