Masdar is responsible for 12 per cent of installed Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) capacity in the world. Masdar’s projects represent an estimated 68 per cent of the Gulf’s renewable energy capacity.
With a tap on a smartphone a driverless electric car will arrive at a resident’s doorstep and take him or her wherever he or she wants to go inside Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
This is one of the many modes of sustainable transportation that will be operational in the city when the developments are completed.
Apart from transportation, innovations to find sustainable solutions in almost all areas of life are experimented at this low-carbon city, which is being built by Masdar, a commercially driven renewable energy company.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is a strategic government initiative established in 2006 with a mission to invest, incubate and establish the new energy industry in Abu Dhabi and around the world. Playing an important role in extending Abu Dhabi’s energy leadership beyond hydrocarbons, Masdar has adopted an integrated, holistic business model – merging higher education, research and development, investment and sustainable living.
The latest achievement of Masdar is indicative of its importance in the history of the UAE. A nation that has been known for its oil exports for decades is a pioneer now in renewable energy. Masdar is responsible for delivering nearly 1GW (giga watt) of clean power across the globe in various projects.
Many eyebrows were raised when the Abu Dhabi Government announced its plans to invest $15 billion (Dh55.05 billion) in Masdar in 2006. Critics from the region itself had said the renewable energy would hurt the UAE economy which depends on huge oil exports.
“But the same people who criticised us followed suit very soon,” according to Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, CEO and Managing Director of Masdar and UAE Minister of State.
Masdar City will house the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), the first international agency to be headquartered in the Middle East. Masdar’s international wind and solar energy projects in Spain, the United Kingdom, Mauritania and other countries show its growing acceptance.
The low-carbon city is being built on a 600-hectare plot of land close to Abu Dhabi International Airport, around 17km away from downtown Abu Dhabi.
While riding an automatic electric car running on a fixed route inside the city, a senior official said, more advanced vehicles can be expected in future. “We don’t limit the possibilities…this [car on fixed route] may be a closed system [with its limitations] we encourage open system…[where flexible modifications or additions can be done],” Anthony Mallows, Director of Masdar City, said
He was taking a Gulf News team on a tour inside the city.
Out of the 3.8 million square metre GFA (gross floor area) of construction in the City, 60 per cent is for residential purposes, 15 per cent commercial, 12 per cent community areas, 11 per cent light industry and research and development and 2 per cent retail, Mallows said.
About 40,000 residents and 50,000 commuters are expected inside the city when completed by 2030, he said.
About the completion rate of total planned constructions, the director said five per cent has already been completed and ten per cent is under construction. The progress is subject to demand, the director said.
The city is powered by an on-site 10 MW (megawatt) solar PV plant and 1MW of rooftop solar panels on the Masdar Institute. “The city is currently using just 3-4MW only and the rest goes to the UAE grid,” Mallows said.
Notable companies and organisations located in Masdar City include Siemens, General Electric, Global Green Growth Institute, the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) and Khazna Data Centre Limited, he said.