The historic First Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Assembly (IRENA) was held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) on 4th and 5th April 2011.
Around 800 delegates from 150 nations gathered in the UAE capital to discuss the most pressing issues hampering the development of renewable energy in the shadow of Japan’s nuclear crisis, which brought renewables back into the spotlight. MEGAWHAT attended the post-event press conference and caught up with the agency’s newly-appointed director general, Adnan Amin to learn about IRENA’s agenda.
With a $25 million approved budget for its first year of operation, IRENA’s ambitious goal of establishing itself as a leading body for the research and development of renewable energy policies and technologies might not be far-fetched.
The international body, which includes among its 149 members, key economic powers such as the United States, Japan and the European Union, intends to focus on three priority areas – knowledge management, technology and regulatory framework – which also represent the main barriers to renewable energy development.
The agency also aims at changing public perceptions towards renewable energy through an extensive communication campaign. During the assembly, the UAE was confirmed as the permanent headquarters of IRENA.
As expected, nuclear power was the most debated topic, in light of the nuclear crisis unfolding in Japan, where the government has been struggling to stop leakage of radioactive materials from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami striking off the coast on 11th March 2011.
For IRENA’s new director general Adnan Amin, following Japan’s nuclear disaster, “the impetus towards looking at renewable energy has definitely strengthened.” While acknowledging that nuclear power-related safety issues haven’t yet been fully addressed, he also argued that investing in nuclear energy was “a sovereign decision that countries need to make.”
“Nuclear energy has a number of strategic reasons to it. It has to do with energy security,” he said. “Every country has a principal responsibility to provide for the energy needs of its citizens. We all know that nuclear energy has risks – we have known this for a number of decades.”
He also added that as far as he was aware, the UAE was not a seismic zone, unlike Japan.
On the other hand, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change and CEO of Abu Dhabi government-owned renewable energy company Masdar, emphasised that the highest safety standards are an integral part of UAE’s nuclear energy programme. However, he didn’t give any details on the type of measures the country intends to adopt to minimise safety risks.
He said that the UAE has a structured and holistic approach to renewable energy, which is only a component of the country’s planned energy mix.
“Hydrocarbons and nuclear energy are also part of the plan,” he explained. However, he highlighted UAE’s commitment towards investing in renewable energy sources, unveiling the company’s plans for the construction of a number of wind farms across the UAE.
“We have identified a couple of locations and we are currently conducting feasibility studies in mountainous areas in the northern Emirates, as well as on the island of Sir Bani Yas,” he said.
Furthermore, he confirmed that construction work on the world’s largest solar thermal plant, Shams 1, is underway, adding that financing for the plant was closed last month. The concentrated solar power (CSP) plant is expected to be completed by 2012.
Al Jaber also referred to Masdar’s 10 MW photovoltaic plant, which was connected to Abu Dhabi grid in June 2009. The PV plant is the only one in the world with 50% thin film and 50% crystalline silicon panels.
Masdar has delayed a planned $2.2 billion hydrogen power project and also scrapped a solar module manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi.
Amin pointed out that the increased uptake and interest in renewable energy has been driven by the fact that in some areas, price parity with fossil fuel-based energy sources has already been achieved. Increasing renewable energy competitiveness is fundamental for large-scale deployment.
He went as far saying that, from an economic point of view, it would be more profitable for the UAE to export oil and use renewable energy at home, instead of relying on subsidised fuel.
Earlier this year, during the World Future Energy Summit held in Abu Dhabi last January, Amin had urged governments to rethink the issue of fossil fuel subsidies. “We must level the playing field by integrating the true cost of fossil fuels in their price,” he had said.
