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IRENA Expected to Attract Investments in Green Energy
ABU DHABI - The decision to base the International Renewable Energy Agency, or IRENA, in Abu Dhabi should make the nation’s capital a magnet for businesses involved in research and development and in related investments, business leaders and executives said on Tuesday.
As a result, the UAE economy, now dominated by hydrocarbons, should get a lift from increased global attention and spending on clean energy technologies, they said.
Engr. Salah Salem Omeir Al Shamsi, the chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Masdar has already set aside $15 billion to invest in the clean energy industry. Abu Dhabi, in its Economic Plan 2030, has laid down a strategy to develop a knowledge-based economy, and as home to Irena headquarters, the city can expect to create a multitude of new business opportunities, he said.
“Abu Dhabi has already shown its resilience in the face of an economic crisis, and with space for around 1,500 renewable energy companies, Masdar will be riding the next wave of inward investment,” said Tim Field, the head of investment law at international law firm Simmons & Simmons.
The Masdar freezone is already an attractive offering, but with such a prominent resident as Irena, Field said he was confident that more large international alternative-energy providers will want to establish a presence there.
“Abu Dhabi can’t help but benefit from this kind of investment - both in financial terms but also in knowledge and educational terms,” Field said.
The decision to locate IRENA headquarters in Abu Dhabi is a recognition of what the authorities here are trying to do in the fields of renewable energy field and for cleaner environment, said Jeffery Lim, the area manager of the DNV Energy Middle East. With the support of the authorities, more industries here will now be persuaded to look towards renewable energy as a source to power their systems.
Also, more international energy companies are likely to invest in the renewable energy field in Abu Dhabi in future, especially in Masdar. Many oil companies, including Britain’s BP, are investing in renewable energy, and they will be looking towards locations like the Masdar city, Lim said.
The selection of Abu Dhabi as the location for the headquarters of the IRENA has put the emirate into the world map on issues relating to sustainability and clean environment, says Gael Forest, the principal consultant of Environmental Resources Management, Abu Dhabi. The location of such a high profile institution as IRENA in Abu Dhabi will bring in the issues of sustainability and renewables into the agenda of the industry here. Large number of industries related to renewables from all over the world will come here.
Yaseen Jaafar, Chief Executive Officer of Proclad Group, which has a research and industrial complex at Dubai TechnoPark, noted that the UAE is already a hub for research and development in oil and gas and renewable energy.
He described the Irena headquarters decision as an important breakthrough for the country.
The Dubai Export Development Corporation (EDC) commended Abu Dhabi, for winning the bid to host the headquarters.
“We at EDC, as the Dubai government body charged with promoting exports from the Emirate, realise the importance of diversifying sources of the nation’s income and reducing our dependency on oil. With IRENA in the UAE will stimulate to further research and development in the field of renewable energy and eventually will lead the country as a major energy exporter to the world,” Engineer Saed Al Awadi, Chief Executive Officer, EDC.
Reed Exhibitions, the organisers of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, views this development as highly positive. Frederic Theux, President of Reed Exhibitions Middle East, the organisers of congratulated the nation on the feat.
“We expect this successful bid to not only provide a substantial boost to WFES in 2010 and beyond, but also strengthen the UAE capital’s drive to position itself as the world’s renewable energy capital,” Theux said.
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