Masdar

Masdar Clean Energy develops and invests in renewable energy projects and small-scale projects in communities that are often located in remote areas.

Masdar operates in over 30 countries worldwide including those in Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa, Australasia and Asia.

In the United Arab Emirates, Masdar Clean Energy have developed the Shams 1 concentrated solar power (CSP) 100-megawatt MW project in Abu Dhabi and the 800MW Phase 3 of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai using photovoltaic panels, the last stage of which is soon to be inaugurated. [2][3]

In August 2020, Masdar announced that it will be part of a consortium developing the two-gigawatt Al Dhafra Solar PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Abu Dhabi, which will be the world’s largest solar power plant.

The company has also deployed and invested in projects using wind and energy storage technologies, including the Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm, which is connected to Batwind – the world’s first battery connected to an offshore wind farm. Both of these projects are a joint venture with Norwegian company Equinor. Some of Masdar’s other wind projects include the London Array and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm in the UK, Rocksprings and Sterling in the US, and Tafila in Jordan. The company are also part of a consortium developing Saudi Arabia’s first and the Middle East’s largest wind farm.

Masdar is also developing the UAE’s first waste-to-energy plant in Sharjah with UAE-based company Bee’ah and has acquired a stake in the East Rockingham Waste to Energy project in Australia through a venture with Tribe Holdings.

Partnering with the government of Seychelles, it developed a 6 MW wind farm for Mahé Island.[4] As of May 2013, Masdar is building a 100 MW hybrid photovoltaic and natural gas concentrated solar power plant in Al Ain called Noor 1,[5][6] and a 30 MW wind farm on Sir Bani Yas island.[5]

Masdar is also involved in numerous international ventures. It holds 20% equity in the London Array, a large wind farm off the coast of Britain designed to generate up to 1,000 MW of power.[7][8] Masdar invested in the 20 MW Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant and the twin 50 MW Valle 1 and Valle 2 solar power stations in Spain, which were developed by Torresol Energy, a joint venture between SENER and Masdar with respective equity stakes of 60% and 40%.[6][9][10]

In January 2021 Masdar and EDF Renewables Israel, French utility giant EDF’s subsidiary signed a renewable energy agreement. Masdar and EDF have similar projects in North Africa and the Middle East. One of these projects is in the UAE called the Al Dhafra Project, which will be the biggest solar energy facility in the world with a capacity of 2000MW.[11]

Masdar City is located in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and is designed to be the world’s most sustainable urban community. The city is powered in part by the Masdar City 10MW Solar Power Plant, the first grid-connected renewable energy project in the UAE and the largest of its kind in the Middle East when inaugurated in 2009. An additional 1MW of rooftop PV is located on the buildings developed as phase 1 of Masdar City.

Anchor tenants of the city include the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), as well as Siemens and Siemens Energy , Honeywell, the General Authority of Abu Dhabi Customs, and National Central Cooling Company, Tabreed.

Masdar City claims to be a hub for research and development. This is supported by numerous pilot projects and real-world solutions in energy and water efficiency, mobility and artificial intelligence that are implemented at the city. The city is also home to Masdar and BP supported The Catalyst, a start-up accelerator for clean energy companies, and Krypto Labs, an innovation hub that invests in high potential and entrepreneurs.

The city contains one of the largest clusters of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings in the world. All buildings developed in the city are also mandated to achieve a 3-Pearl rating under the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipalities and Transport’s (DMT) Estidama Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS). Buildings are also designed to reduce energy consumption by at least 40 per cent compared to ASHRAE standards and reduce water consumption by at least 40 per cent in accordance with Estidama PBRS.

International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA HQ building is Estidama 4-Pearls and the Siemens Middle East HQ is LEED Platinum-certified and 3-Pearls under Estidama PBRS.

The development of Masdar City has been centred around pedestrians, which is highlighted by the city’s shaded narrow walkways that protect from Abu Dhabi’s arid climate and reduce the temperatures in the city. This is aided by the presence of a traditional Arabic wind tower or ‘barjeel’ that also aims to improve thermal comfort.

The city’s sustainable transportation network, comprises the Personal Rapid Transit system or PRT, which transports passengers between the North Car Park and the MBZUAI campus at the centre of the city, and the NAVYA Autonom Shuttle, a fully autonomous vehicle that can fit between 8-12 people and operates around the city.

The city aims to be a place where people can live, work, learn and play, and is home to Majid Al Futtaim’s community mall My City Centre Masdar, two parks – Masdar Park and Central Park. Both parks contain children’s playgrounds, while Masdar Park is home to sporting facilities including football and basketball pitches, outdoor gym facilities and a cycling, walking and running track called Al Mamsha, as well as plenty of food and beverage outlets.

The world’s first university for artificial intelligence (AI) was launched at Masdar City in October 2019. The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is a graduate-level research institution, named after His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The university offers Master of Science and PhD programmes across three areas: machine learning, computer vision and natural language processing. Students will receive full scholarships including monthly stipends, health insurance and accommodation.

AI is expected to become a vital tool in making the global economy become more sustainable and efficient across all sectors, including agriculture, water, energy and transport. The addition of the research-institution to Masdar City supports the city’s reputation as the home of innovation in Abu Dhabi and provides the opportunity for collaboration to develop innovative AI solutions for sustainable development.

• Official website