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DCCI outlines Dubai potential for renewable energy

DUBAI - Over the next 10-15 years, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) expects only one per cent of electricity produced in Dubai to come from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power and biofuels.

This is expected to improve in the long-term, however, due to the higher competitiveness of renewable energy usage, according to a study released yesterday by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

It added that demand for electricity and water in Dubai will increase by 12-14 per cent per annum until 2010, higher than the UAE national average of 10 per cent for the same period.

The 10-page paper, 'A Study on the Development Aspects of Renewable Energy Technology Sector in Dubai and Hamburg', also said that the UAE can save costs by having local renewable energy projects funded by other countries.

It stressed that this would be in line with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto Protocol, which classifies the UAE as a developing country that has no compliance target with regard to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions.

Otherwise known as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol provides that countries working towards cutting their own hazardous emissions can receive credit for helping decreasing emissions abroad.

"The clean development mechanisms are incentives for the UAE to get free technology, create jobs and a way to shift and diversity energy resources by trying to attract a country to fund or partly finance a project," said Mohammad Raouf, senior environment researcher at Gulf Research Centre.

The study said Dubai's hot and sunny weather makes it an obvious environment for solar and thermal energy generation. It added that solar-powered systems in Dubai are used for telecommunications, on oilrigs, parking metres, traffic light signals, and in DEWA's water flow monitoring.

"There are internal discussions on solar energy but usage is curtailed by its relatively high and uncompetitive unit cost of production, its requirement for considerable space and relatively small-scale of electricity production compared with the huge requirement of DEWA," said the authority's managing director and CEO, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer.

The study said that initiatives by the Dubai government to develop its renewable energy sector have been "fairly limited". It may therefore learn a lesson from the privatised industry in Abu Dhabi that is "proactive" in its attitude towards utilising natural resources for energy needs.

It cited Abu Dhabi's Masdar Project as an indication of the emirate's commitment to the renewable energy market through research and development (R&D).