MASDAR CITY
World-Gen visited the six square kilometers
Masdar City construction site being
built in six phases at a cost of $22 billion.
Masdar City will house 1,500 cleantech
companies, 40,000 residents and 50,000
commuters. Anchor tenants include GE,
IRENA, Schneider Electric, BASF and the
Masdar Institute of Science and
Technology, among others. Tenants will
receive free trade zone status. It will be the
world’s first carbon neutral city when completed
in 2013. Phase One broke ground in
2008 for the Masdar Institute of Science and
Technology (MIST), a private, non-profit
graduate institution affiliated with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MIST faculty will work with MIT’S faculty
on joint research projects and prepare a syllabus
over a 12 month period at MIT.
Partnerships also currently exist with
Imperial College, Tokyo Technology
Institute and the University of Waterloo
through fellowship programs.
Designed by the UK’s Foster and
Partners, the institute’s campus will cover
54,000 sq.m. The buildings are being constructed
on concrete pedestals in close
proximity to take advantage of natural shading
and air circulation to reduce cooling by
75 percent.
MASDAR INSTITUTE
MIST received over 1,200 applications from 82 countries to enroll 88 students for
its first class in 2009. Twelve percent are
from the UAE. Another 140 will be enrolled
in the new Masdar City facility opening in
September, 2010. Over the next five years,
the student body is expected to grow to
between 600-800 students pursuing the 2
year MS degree.
Over 30 research projects are underway
to develop, test-bed, and benchmark
commercially viable energy solutions.
Three patent applications have been filed. Boeing, Etihad Airways, the national
airline of the UAE, and Honeywell have
established a five year project at MIST to
study evolutionary saltwater farming to harvest
salicornia seeds for aviation biofuels. In
an Integrated Seawater Agriculture System
(ISAS) operation, water is pumped from the
sea via canals, flowing through an aquaculture
system in which fish and shellfish are
produced using monitored procedures. The
seawater effluent from this operation is
high in nutrients and is used to irrigate and
fertilize mangrove forests and meadows of
salicornia, which is harvested, and its seeds
pressed for their oil. The oil can then be
processed into liquid fuels, while the seed
meal becomes feed for the aquaculture
crops and animal feed. Sustainable biofuel
development is a key element of aviation’s
carbon emissions reduction strategy. The
closed loop system does not distort the
global food-chain, or compete with fresh
water or lead to unintended land use
change.
MASDAR POWER
Masdar Power builds and invests in
utility renewable energy power projects.
Two desalination technology tests are
underway for Masdar City. Concentrated
solar power generation is being sited to
evaluate solar beam-down technology. A
joint venture between Dong Energy, E.ON
and Masdar invested in London Array, the
1,000 mw offshore wind farm in the UK. It
is also investing in wind projects in the
Seychelles and Sir Bani Yas, the UAE’s
largest natural island and a premiere tourist
destination.
Masdar Power invested ∉120 million
in WinWinD oy, a Finnish wind turbine
manufacturer. Masdar will hold three seats
on the board. WinWinD manufactures 1 to
3 megawatt, low speed wind turbines, and is
a division of Sterling Infotech Group of
Chennai, India. There are plans to expand
elements of the operation to Abu Dhabi.
MASDAR CARBON
Masdar Carbon provides end-to-end
management services to develop clean tech
projects and monetize carbon emissions at
home and globally. In partnership with Abu
Dhabi’s National Oil and Onshore
Operations Companies, Masdar is developing
a large-scale CCS project. The project
will capture carbon dioxide emitted frompower plants and be transported on a
national pipeline for injection into Abu
Dhabi oil and gas reservoirs for enhanced
oil recovery (EOR). Upon completion in
2014, 5 million tons of carbon dioxide will
be captured per year.
BP and Masdar will build the world’s
first industrial-scale hydrogen-fired power
plant with an integrated carbon capture and
storage system. The 400 mw plant will separate
natural gas into hydrogen and carbon
dioxide. 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide
will be captured annually for EOR. The
hydrogen will be burned to produce lowcarbon
electricity.
Torresol Energy, a joint venture
between Masdar and SENER, a leading
international multidiscipline engineering
company, with offices in Abu Dhabi, has
secured $760 million project finance loans
for the construction of its twin
Concentrated Solar Power plants, Valle 1
and Valle 2, in Andalucía, Spain. The total
investment value for the two plants is $1bn.
Both plants incorporate energy solutions
developed by SENER, including
molten salt thermal storage capacity of up
to 7.5 hours. The plants will be capable of
generating electricity at night and through
periods of poor sunlight, enabling a continuous
supply of electricity and overcoming
intermittency.
Dr. Al Jaber said: “The CSP projects
currently under construction in Spain will
introduce and test new technologies, which
will help promote CSP as an conomically
competitive and viable lternative to traditional
power sources. Through Torresol
Energy, we are actively promoting the
development and operation of large-scale
CSP plants throughout the world and hope
to implement additional projects across
Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle
East and the southwestern United States”.
The construction of the new plants
will have an estimated 3,200 new direct
employment opportunities during the two
year construction period.
INVESTMENT ARM
Masdar Clean Tech Fund was
launched in 2006 with partners Consensus
Business Group, Credit Swisse and
Siemens AG to invest $250 million. The US
received 65 percent and Europe 35 percent.
A second fund was launched in January to
secure financial commitments of $500 million
to invest in clean energy. The fund is
co-managed by Masdar Venture Capital and
DB Climate Change Advisors to build a
diversified portfolio. Siemens, Japan Bank,
Japan Oil, Nippon Oil and GE will be
investors.
IRENA LAUNCHED
Dr. Al Jaber announced the establishment
of the International Renewable
Energy Agency, IRENA, the world's first
intergovernmental agency fully dedicated to
renewables. “With 138 member states in its
first year, IRENA is a true reflection of the
global commitment to renewable energy in developed and developing nations,” he said
in his keynote address. IRENA selected
Masdar City for its headquarters. It will act
as a clearing house, collecting, sharing and
building a comprehensive database to
become a one-stop shop. Its 138 members
are comprised of 46 from Africa, 36 from
Europe, plus the EU, 32 from Asia, 14 from
the Americas and 9 from Australia. IRENA
will continue its outreach to IEA, the UN
General Secretary, and the International
Panel on Climate Change.
Staffing is a priority in 2010 and over
500 applications have been filed, 41% from
women. IRENA is also working with the
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development to place
$50 million annually in renewable projects.
2010 ZAYED PRIZES
Dr. Al Jaber, serving as Director
General of the Zayed Future Energy Prize,
said at the awards ceremony: “The caliber
of entries has been phenomenal and the
jury had tough choices to narrow the selection
to three finalists.” The three finalists
were chosen from over 300 entrants. The
award is open to individuals, companies and
non-governmental organizations that can
demonstrate a tangible clean energy solution.
The Zayed Future Energy Prize was
created in 2008 to honor the legacy of the
late ruler of Abu Dhabi and the founding
father and President of the United Arab
Emirates, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al
Nahyan, who championed environmental
stewardship. The Zayed Future Energy
Prize Jury is made up of eight leading international
energy experts. Toyota was the
2010 winner for the hybrid Prius launched
in 1997 that has saved seven million tons of
carbon dioxide. Dr. Zhrengrong Shi,
founder of Suntech Power, the world’s
largest manufacturer of silicon solar modules
and Amitabha Sadanji, CEO of IDEI
who reduced carbon dioxide by 1.8 million
tons in India by deploying an irrigation
technology for farmers, were the two other
finalists.
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is the
Managing Director and Chief Executive
Officer of Masdar. Dr. Al Jaber led Masdar’s
participation in the UAE’s successful bid to
host the headquarters of the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in
Masdar City. In 2009, UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-Moon elected Dr. Al Jaber to join
the UN’s Advisory Group on Energy and
Climate Change. Dr. Al Jaber is also a
Senior Advisor to Mubadala Development
Company. He is a Chairman of the Board of
the Abu Dhabi Ports Company. He also
serves on the boards of ALDAR Properties,
Advanced Technology Investment
Company (ATIC) and the Young Arab
Leaders Organization. He received his PhD
in Economics from Coventry University in
the United Kingdom and has a Bachelor of
Science in Chemical Engineering from the
University of Southern California and
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
from California State University in Los
Angeles. |
