A partnership between Sharjah and Abu Dhabi companies will bring solar power to Sierra Leone.
A subsidiary of Mulk Holdings, the Sharjah manufacturing conglomerate, is to build a US$18 million solar park in Freetown using panels made by Masdar PV, an arm of the Abu Dhabi government’s clean energy company. Once complete, the plant will have a capacity of 6 megawatts, or about half the capacity of Dubai’s solar park, said Mulk’s Oasis Gulf Investment, the subsdiary that won the engineering and construction contract for the solar park.
“This is further proof that the UAE is establishing itself as a hub for solar in the Mena region,” said Vahid Fotuhi, the founder of the Middle East Solar Industry Association, a Dubai-based group. “We have seen EPCs [engineering, procurement and construction] from Abu Dhabi taking on lead roles, we’ve seen EPCs from Dubai, and it’s great that now Sharjah is now joining the mix. It accentuates the strength of the UAE in positioning itself as a hub for solar companies and for solar expertise, not just for the GCC but also for the Mena region.”
Gulf solar companies are increasingly targeting Africa for new projects. In April Masdar completed a 15MW plant in Mauritania, and last month the Senegalese president Macky Sall said Masdar was considering building a $40m solar plant in his country. Acwa Power, the Saudi solar company, has made Africa a cornerstone of its expansion from conventional power into solar with contract wins in South Africa and Morocco.
The Sierra Leone solar project, which is designed to meet 8.5 per cent of the country’s demand, is to be overseen by a Dh2 billion consortium with representatives from Sierra Leone’s Dubai consulate and the International Renewable Energy Agency based in Abu Dhabi. Sierra Leone hopes to source a quarter of its power from renewables by next year.
“This venture is a big step towards helping us strengthen our base further in the African market,” said Shaji Ul Mulk, the chairman of Mulk Holdings.
ayee@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
