With its recently-announced acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in the River Thames’ London Array wind farm project, Abu Dhabi company Mubadala - financed by Abu Dhabi’s $700 billion sovereign wealth fund - obviously hit upon a great name for its recently-created “green” technology subsidiary Masdar: the word is Arab for “the source”.
Sited 12 miles into the North Sea off the south Essex coast, London Array is jointly owned by Masdar, German power company E.on and Denmark’s DONGenergy.
With the UK government’s blessing, London Array aims to produce 1,000 megawatts of energy in the near future - perhaps even by 2012 - from about 340 turbines. This cascade of 1,000 megawatts will power the energy needs of 25% of London’s homes.
London Array received planning permission for its offshore work in December 2006 - and the UK government, in August 2008, supported the planning inspector’s recommendation for permission to be given for the construction of an onshore substation.
Further east, away from the modest temperatures of the North Sea, Masdar's plans for Masdar City - a metropolis of 50,000 residents and 1,500 businesses located 12 miles south of the capital city called Abu Dhabi - are already becoming reality, with construction underway.
Set to be the world's first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city, premises for light industry, health and education - along with homes for residents - will be "fed and watered" by technology that is as "green" as possible, providing the Abu Dhabi emirate and capital with a brand-new international technopole that burnishes the state’s reputation as a forward-thinker, implementer, and responsible investor. Completion is scheduled for 2015.
With oil revenues currently well off their 2008 peak and languishing at around $50 per barrel, Masdar's “green real estate” timing is good, offering Abu Dhabi a diversified income stream, away from the usual indigenous oil/gas industries.
"For us, the ongoing construction of Masdar City represents a wonderful opportunity,” says Sultan al-Jaber, (photo available) CEO at Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), established to mastermind the US$15 billion Masdar/Mubadala initiative.
“We are fully aware of our position in the world’s energy market, and we have plenty of energy expertise to deploy on something entirely new, something the world has never seen before.
"Our aim is not to replace oil and gas revenues totally, but to help extend their viability by finding alternative revenue streams. The creation of the new city represents an income-producing asset, deriving revenue just as the ownership of a town, village or business district does anywhere else in the world," he added.
The Masdar initiative also comprises the Masdar Clean Tech Fund: involving the participation of Consensus Business Group, Credit Suisse and Siemens, this central fund has $250 million with which to build a portfolio of clean technology funds, co-investments and joint venture initiatives; all are aimed at helping to provide energy security and sustainable human-resource development through the use of renewable energies.
The Clean Tech Fund deployed most of its capital in 2007, 12 months ahead of schedule; strategic equity stakes have been taken in companies such as Segway, Halosource, Europlasma, Sulfurcell, Heliovolt, SIC Processing and EnerTech Capital.
Architects’ masterplan
Masdar City’s creators have linked with London-based architects Foster and Partners in planning the new metropolis, which will extend to 6 square kilometres. There will be a PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) comprising Masdar-designed electric vehicles for residents, to make the city entirely car-free; it is estimated there will be a total of 2,500 PRT vehicles, with daily use expected to involve about 150,000 trips.
Trucks will also be eliminated from Masdar City, thanks to its revolutionary 5,000-trips-per-day MRT, Material Road Transit.
The source of the city’s energy will originate from photo-voltaic panels, with cooling provided via concentrated solar power.
Water will come from a solar-powered desalination plant; crops and shade-giving palms lining every street will be irrigated with waste (“grey”) water.
In addition to the construction of the new city, Masdar/Mubadala is investing in innovative technologies – and the companies developing them – with the goal of bringing the next generation of sustainable solutions to market: the initiative is directly interested in projects in all areas of renewable energy and sustainability, with an initial focus on the following sectors: concentrating-solar-power (CSP), solar-photovoltaic (PV), wind-energy, waste-to-energy and the solar-power cooling.
A range of wind and waste-to-energy projects will be operational in Masdar City by 2010.
Institutes in Abu Dhabi and Massachusetts
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), meanwhile, is the region’s first graduate-level, research-driven scientific institution focused on education and research in energy and sustainability; the institution has been developed in co-operation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
MIST lies at the core of Masdar’s effort to develop the scientific and human talent required for the new clean-technology sector to thrive.
Beginning in September 2009, MIST will recruit emiratis and others from the region, and beyond. Full-time, two-year master of science programmes will be offered in: engineering systems and management, IT, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, and water and environment sciences.
MIST also encompasses the Masdar Research Network (MRN), a network of universities across the world that are conducting advanced research in energy and sustainability technologies.
MRN partners include:
· Columbia University, USA
· Imperial College of London, UK
· RWTH Aachen University, Germany
· University of Waterloo, Canada
· Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
· The German Aerospace Center (DLR)
· Ciemat: Energy Research Center, Spain.
And as the icing on the cake, Abu Dhabi - with a population of less than 1 million - will host the inaugural World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in mid-January 2009, held under the patronage of the state’s HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
It may require less than 90 minutes to drive from one end of Abu Dhabi to another, but its world-standing as the cradle for 21st century innovations in clean energy production is about to go through the roof.
No comments:
Post a Comment