The announcement last week of the world’s largest solar power plant to be built in Abu Dhabi underscores once again the UAE’s unshakeable commitment to ushering in the era of renewables at the earliest.
This urgency and purposefulness must be welcomed given how priorities regarding sustainability are the new signposts for a country’s forward march.
The $870 million Abu Dhabi solar project, a joint international collaborative effort by Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, a Japanese company and a Chinese manufacturer, is expected to be completed by 2019 and will add its might to UAE’s solar power push that already has mega projects such as the Shams 1 in Abu Dhabi and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai showing the way forward.
At this year’s World Government Summit in Dubai, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority announced its plans to employ solar-powered reverse osmosis to power its desalination plants that would lead to a savings of $13 billion between now and 2030.
From mega projects to myriad other solar power initiatives, the UAE’s bid to accelerate its agenda of achieving sustainable solutions and reduce carbon emissions is marked by its determination to be at the forefront in the region.
Production of clean energy and pursuit of renewables are no longer optional pursuits for countries; they are imperatives that will determine the future of humankind and of this planet.
And the UAE’s vigorous pursuit of sustainable solution is proof of its clear grasp of the imperatives.
This alacrity is perhaps best summed up in the words of one of UAE’s ministers who said that the country, guided by its far-sighted leadership, has long ago begun preparations to bid farewell to the last drop of oil.
