Gulf Connections: Enchanted evenings for a South Pacific island as Abu Dhabi turns the lights on

Masdar's renewable energy projects have transformed the lives of millions around the world

The Island of Upolu in Western Samoa, where Masdar completed a wind farm more than a decade ago. Getty Images

The tropical island of Upolu is about as far as it is humanly possible to travel from Abu Dhabi. Deep in the Pacific Ocean and part of Samoa, the island is more than 17,000 kilometres from the capital of the UAE.

It is where Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, lived out his last days, and is the inspiration for characters from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

But when darkness falls and the crickets begin their incessant chirp amid the coconut palms and dense rainforest, it is the UAE many of the 140,000 inhabitants have to thank for the lights going on.

It is a little more than 10 years since Masdar Energy Services completed a wind farm on the island. Two wind turbines, each 55 metres tall, deliver 1,500 megawatt-hours of power each year. It saves the island’s economy $475,000 (Dh1.74 million) annually in fuel and reduces its annual carbon footprint by more than 1,000 tonnes.

Crucially, in a region frequently hit by potentially devastating cyclones, the wind farms' innovative technology means the towers can be lowered quickly to the ground if a storm approaches.

Illuminating projects

The Upolu wind farm, opened in 2014, was the second project completed under the UAE-Pacific Partnership fund, whose aim is to unlock “significant economic and social benefits across the region”, said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and chairman of Masdar.

The fund, worth $50 million and backed with grant financing from Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) supports renewable energy projects in 11 Pacific island nations.

The first, in Tonga, was the La'a Lahi (Big Sun) solar plant, which now supplies 17 per cent of the island’s electricity. In the first phase, solar power farms were also built on Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.

The second phase includes the Solomon and Marshall Islands and Nauru. In Palau, a collection of more than 250 islands with a population only 21,000, a hybrid plant also includes a water treatment system.

Isolated by sometimes thousands of kilometres of ocean, all these countries face costly energy imports, up to 10 times higher than elsewhere. Renewable energy is seen as a way of reducing the financial burden and cutting carbon emissions.

Masdar's 550kw cyclone-proof wind farm in Samoa. Photo: Masdar

All the projects were developed by Masdar, based on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. Set up in 2006, Masdar’s focus is on renewable energy, and is part of the UAE’s diversification strategy from oil and gas.

To date, Masdar’s reach extends over six continents and more than 40 countries. In the UK, the London Array in the Thames Estuary is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, supplying electricity to half a million homes.

The Sheikh Zayed Solar Power Plant in Mauritania supplies 10 per cent of the country’s grid capacity, while Egypt’s Benbah plant, the largest in Africa, powers one million homes.

In Morocco, smaller home solar-power systems supply more than 19,000 homes and 1,000 villages in remote rural areas, which previously had no access to electricity. In southern Afghanistan, Masdar has connected more than 500 homes in two dozen villages as well as schools and clinics that were previously off-grid.

Uzbekistan’s Zarafshan wind farm will be the biggest in Central Asia, but with concerns that birds of prey could collide with the spinning turbine blades. As a solution Masdar will use artificial intelligence to identify hawks in danger and switch off the turbines until they leave the area.

In total, Masdar estimates its global projects are producing enough power for 5.25 million homes and reduced carbon emissions each year equal to taking 6.5 million cars off the roads.

And for the people of Opulu, as the hits from South Pacific tell, each sunset really does bring some enchanted evening and happy talk.