InFocus | Earthwatch
Staying in power
Solar energy is now powering parking meters, traffic lights, offshore buoys and water heating in a number of hotels in the UAE. The future of renewable energy in the UAE looks bright.
- By Shikha Mishra, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:00 June 11, 2006
The future of renewable energy in the UAE looks bright.
In 1931, Thomas Edison said, "I'd put my money on solar energy. I hope we don't have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that."
Edison's words turned out to be prophetic, for red flags have been going up for years on the state of the world's declining oil supply. And there is no denying the fact that to continue living on a healthy planet, switching to renewable forms of energy such as wind and solar power is the only option.
"Renewable energy is of utmost importance, both environmentally and for long-term future energy conservation and independence. However, so far renewable energy is limited to industrial use applications in the UAE, which has been very successful for many years," says Fadi Maalouf, Manager of Specialised Systems at Specialised and Interactive Systems, a Dubai-based renewable energy systems firm.
Too late?
The success of renewable energy in the UAE is limited and needs to be expanded. "We have waited too long on the subject of renewable sources of energy and unfortunately, it may already be too late," says Dr Alan Dickson of Solstice International. Dickson has been in the renewable energy business in the UAE since 1993, and laments the fact that despite the UAE having the perfect climate for solar energy, the legislation for the best use of renewable energy (particularly solar) does not exist.
"In the future, the UAE will have to survive on renewable energies, as will the rest of the world, as fossil fuels start to run out," he says.
Peak oil
The day when fossil fuels will run out is defined as ?peak oil'. Peak oil is the point in time when extraction of oil from the earth reaches its highest point and then begins to decline. Nobody can say with certainty when we will reach ?peak oil' until after the fact. Many experts say we have already reached the peak. Others say not yet, but within the next few years.
Dickson believes strongly that the concept of ?peak oil' is the biggest economic threat to our planet and ?global warming' is the greatest environmental one.
Ray of hope
However, a number of recent government-backed projects offer a glimmer of hope for the renewable energy sector. "Abu Dhabi set up a renewable energy efficiency project with $100 million (about Dh367 million) investment and land for development. This is a small start and has to be praised as the only real initiative in this area from an OPEC nation," says Dickson. Additionally, "the latest pilot scheme for a wind farm in Fujairah can also be seen as a beginning," says Prabissh Thomas of Green Energy, suppliers of energy efficient products in the Middle East.
Sarah Woodbridge of IIR organises the Middle East Electricity Exhibition in Dubai and feels that although renewable energy is a new sector in the region, it has the potential to become an important source of power. "The Ministry of Energy, Electricity and Water in Dubai is researching solar energy and solar and wind turbines are being looked at closely in the UAE," she says.
Jacques Audouard, Project Development Manager, Wind Turbines Business Unit, Jeumont SA, France, was in Dubai for the Middle East Electricity Exhibition 2006 and puts his money on wind energy. He says, "The UAE has enormous potential for using wind turbines in generating power for its requirements. The strength of winds blowing in the Emirates can be utilised for generating electricity."
Even though solar energy is now powering parking meters, traffic lights, offshore buoys and water heating in a number of hotels in the UAE, it is not as popular as it should be. "What makes renewable energy unsuccessful here is the fact that electricity rates in the UAE are lower than the rest of the world," says Dickson.
Looking ahead
Fortunately, the UAE has abundant resources of oil and gas. The UAE, and especially DEWA, uses one of the most environment-friendly modes of power generation - through natural gas. "Since this form of non-renewable energy may not be available in abundance, new efforts are being put in by authorities for power generation. The latest developments for a unified power grid facility in the UAE, expansion of power generation plants, the Dolphin project to supply gas from Qatar, are all anticipatory preparations for the estimate that demand for electricity will grow by between 14 and 18 per cent annually for the next five years," says Thomas.
The good news is that the future of renewable energy in the UAE looks bright. "For private use, awareness and public sector support - subsidies, incentives, finance and legislation - must be enhanced to ensure market growth. There is no reason why renewable energy can't achieve a higher level in the UAE, on par with countries such as Germany, Japan and the US," says Maalouf.
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