UAE’s Masdar signs power purchase agreement for wind farm in Kazakhstan

Abu Dhabi's clean energy company Masdar has signed a power purchase agreement with Kazakhstan for its one-gigawatt wind farm in the Central Asian country, which is looking to boost the share of renewables in its energy mix.

The signing took place on the sidelines of the Cop29 climate change summit in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, the renewable energy company said on Saturday.

The agreement comes days after Masdar signed the investment agreement for the project with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy. The project is set to be one of the largest wind farms in the Commonwealth of Independent States region.

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Abdulla Zayed, Masdar’s director of business and project development, and Gulzhan Nalibayeva, general director of Kazakhstan's Financial Settlement Centre for Renewable Energy Sources Support, signed the agreement.

“This agreement demonstrates Masdar’s long-term commitment to supporting Kazakhstan in achieving its ambitious clean energy goals. We are heavily invested in Central Asia with partnerships in a number of countries,” said Mohamed Al Ramahi, chief executive of Masdar.

Central Asia is a key market for Masdar, which aims to grow its total renewable energy capacity to at least 100 gigawatts by 2030.

Last year, the company signed a joint development agreement with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Investments, Industry and Trade to develop more than two gigawatts of solar and wind projects in the country.

Masdar, which nearly doubled its clean energy capacity to 20 gigawatts in two years, has been active in Uzbekistan since 2019, with the 100-megawatt Nur Navoi solar project – the nation’s first successfully financed independent solar project.

On Friday, the company agreed to work with Socar Green, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company, and Saudi-listed Acwa Power to explore the development of offshore wind projects in Azerbaijan with capacity of 3.5 gigawatts.

Since its establishment in 2006, Masdar – which is jointly owned by Adnoc, Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, better known as Taqa – has developed and partnered in projects in more than 40 countries.

The wind farm is Masdar’s inaugural project in Kazakhstan. It is in the south of the country and features a 600-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system.

Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan - in pictures

Masdar is the lead developer for the 1GW project, along with W Solar, Qazaq Green Power (a company of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna), and the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund.

Construction of the wind farm is expected to start by the first quarter of 2026. When completed, it will provide power to approximately 300,000 homes in the south of Kazakhstan and eliminate two million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, according to Masdar.

The wind farm will support Kazakhstan’s ambitions to increase renewables capacity to 15 per cent of its energy supply by 2030, 50 per cent by 2050 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Countries around the world are boosting investments in,renewable energy,to cut emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures.

International investment in renewable energy must triple to $1.5 trillion a year by 2030 to meet the global goal of tripling renewables. Despite record spending of $570 billion last year, current national plans are set to deliver only half of the required renewable power growth, the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency said in a report last month.

To meet the global goals, installed renewable capacity needs to reach 11.2 terawatts by 2030, from the current levels of 3.9TW.

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The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

How to become a Boglehead

Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.

• Spend less than you earn and save the rest. You can do this by earning more, or being frugal. Better still, do both.

• Invest early, invest often. It takes time to grow your wealth on the stock market. The sooner you begin, the better.

• Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.

• Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.

• Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.

• Keep it simple. Complexity is your enemy. You can build a balanced, diversified portfolio with just a handful of ETFs.

• Forget timing the market. Nobody knows where share prices will go next, so don't try to second-guess them.

• Stick with it. Do not sell up in a market crash. Use the opportunity to invest more at the lower price.

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language

2018: Formal work begins
November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
November 2024: All 127 volumes completed

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

Evacuations to France hit by controversy

Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France

Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Results

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m

Winner: Aatebat Al Khalediah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m

Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.

7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Dubai Avenue, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner: My Catch, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.