The highlight of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (January 20-22) was the launch of the World Bank initiative Thirsty Energy. This was an appropriate venue to host the Thirsty Energy launch: not only because the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week now comprises the World Future Energy Summit and the International Water Summit, thus linking energy and water, but also because Abu Dhabi pertains to one of the most arid region of the world.

Thirsty Energy is an international platform geared at helping developing countries to plan better for and to manage the scaling-up of their energy capacity while addressing the rise in water demand and the need for water resource management. With the energy sector as an entry point, initial work has already started in South Africa and dialogue is underway with Morocco, Bangladesh and Brazil where the energy-water challenges demand increasingly integrated approaches.

According to the World Bank, as the global population moves irrevocably towards 9 billion people, there will be a 50 per cent increase in agricultural production and a 15 per cent increase in water withdrawals. Cities now house over half the world population and will be under tremendous pressure to meet the demand for food, water and energy services. Today, nearly 1 billion lack access to improved water and 2.5 billion people do not have basic sanitation.

“The world’s energy and water are inextricably linked. [...] water scarcity can threaten the long-term viability of energy projects and hinder development,” says Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group Vice-President and Special Envoy for Climate Change

Expanding portfolio

Apart from this excellent initiative by the World Bank to help mitigate the impact of water scarcity on energy security, an important agreement was reached between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Masdar — a leading clean energy company based in Abu Dhabi — to advance with a framework to share expertise and fast-track clean energy investments. EIB is one of the world’s largest energy lenders and over the last 5 years has provided more than €70 billion (Dh352 billion) for long-term energy projects.

Masdar aspires to expand its portfolio of renewable energy projects in cooperation with EIB across the Middle East and North Africa. This partnership will contribute to better technical and financial resources for mature project preparation in renewable energy. Masdar’s interests are broadly aligned with EIB’s objectives and collaboration could potentially lead to synergies, in particular for project identification, evaluation and development.

Apart from this framework agreement, Masdar also scored points at home with the inauguration of Siemens’ 700-person office in Masdar City. Positioning itself as a regional hub for clean and renewable energy research, development and deployment, Masdar City opened an “Incubator” building that houses GE’s Ecomagination, Schneider Electric, Grundfos, and Vestas. This is a free-zone with about 110 other companies of which around 70 are SMEs.

Not surprisingly, as Siemens and Schneider Electric had won the Zayed Future Energy Prize in previous years, the 2014 ‘large corporation’ award went to ABB for its commitment to drive innovation, energy efficiency and renewable energy. As a global power and automation technology group, ABB pioneered the high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology nearly 60 years with around 90 projects representing a total installed capacity of over 95,000 megawatts (MW) – approximately half the world’s installed base.

Other interesting developments include the incremental move from consultancies and some oil companies towards renewables. For example, CEO of DNV-GL, David Walker, referred to the “global impact of safe and sustainable” green shipping as well as the transfer of experience with offshore oil and gas rigs that are now being applied to ensure the harnessing and transferring of energy from offshore wind farms. Norway’s Statoil is investing in the world’s first full-scale floating windmill of 2.3 MW called HyWind, off the north-east coast of Scotland.

Even leading nuclear companies like AREVA are investing increasingly in renewables with four business units now dedicated to developing different renewable energies. With international banks, private companies and governments investing increasingly in clean energy sources, the energy transition is undoubtedly underway and gaining momentum. Masdar can be hailed for spear-heading the process and inspiring countries like Kazakhstan to host the Expo 2017 in Astana under the theme of “Future Energy”.

Despite being overshadowed by the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week was a great stepping stone for more exciting energy and water projects to evolve throughout the year.

Most importantly, the link between energy and water is being consolidated and advanced by large international bodies such as the World Bank with its Thirsty Energy initiative and the EIB-Masdar framework that have the potential to invest in making more projects a reality in developing countries alike. The energy transition has been jump-started but now it needs to accelerate.

Stuart Reigeluth is founding editor of Revolve magazine.