E-Paper
Sign In
Masdar project to deliver sustainable results by ’15
ABU DHABI- The Masdar project will take shape by 2009 to deliver sustainable achievements by 2015, said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Chief Executive Officer, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Adfec).
- PUBLISHED: Fri 3 Nov 2006, 10:08 AM UPDATED: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 3:49 PM
- By:
- WAM
An ambitious multi-faceted strategy launched in April 2006, Masdar initiative is well placed to deliver tangible and concrete results for its stakeholders and is poised to contribute to the social and economic growth in the UAE, added Al Jaber.
Speaking at the first international Energy 2030 conference, a two-day international forum organised by the UAE's Petroleum Institute to provide a platform for addressing issues of energy resources and technologies in 2030, Al Jaber elaborated on Abu Dhabi's progressive economic development programme which is aimed at meeting the need for a global focus on resource conservation and the alternative energy sector.
Recommended For You
The newly established Adfec will undertake the whole initiative as well as host a “think tank' that will serve as an advisory group to the Abu Dhabi government on developments and new sustainability policies. In addition,Masdar initiative will be drawing on a specific non-profit R&D fund
to finance the academic and research components, said Al Jaber.
As one of the five units of the Adfec structure, “special projects unit will be developing large scale strategic clean energy projects while attracting value chain manufacturing in advanced energy and sustainability."
Other units of Adfec include innovation and investment - which will be the catalyst for commercialisation of advanced energy and water management technologies providing finance and support for “clean tech' companies (cleantech and star funds, carbon management, special free zone and property development).
The masdar academic and research institute will be the nucleus of the Masdar Research Network (MRN)' which was launched last July in collaboration with Imperial College (UK), RWTH Aachen (Germany), the University of Waterloo (Canada), Columbia University, Tokyo Institute of Technology and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
"Assembling an alliance of such high-calibre partners is an achievement in itself," said Al Jaber.
Alternative fuels and renewable energies dominated other presentations and discussions by world-renowned invited speakers on the second and last day of the first international energy conference which offered a networking opportunity for academics and decision-makers. The much-debated future of nuclear energy was among the topics of other invited talks which featured some 18 top executives of global corporations and experts from the academia and different energy industries.
"Nuclear reactors could become the source of heat needed for the extraction of heavy oils from tar sands or shale as well as for the hydrogen to sweeten it," said Prof Mujid S Kazimi, Director, Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
"Several oil companies are exploring the implications of using small mobile reactors to aid in the unconventional oil recovery," Mujid added.Amidst pressure for environmentally responsible methods and a growing worldwide energy demand and along with debates on emerging energy resources and technologies that are likely to be critical contributors to the energy supply in various sectors twenty five years from now, the first edition of Energy 2030 forum which was concluded today featured other valuable scientific debates and discussions of advances in photovoltaic science and technology for solar electricity, hydrogen and fuel cells and strategies for advanced oil utilisation, opportunities and perspectives for plastics in coming fossil fuel and solar energy scenarios and new consumer-driven realities in oil markets.
