As The National reported yesterday, Masdar and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology have announced plans to launch a specialised research hub to develop advanced solar technologies. The centre will host a portfolio of services from research and development to testing and evaluation, as well as certification and consulting. Separately, at this week's World Green Economy Summit in Dubai, the UAE was identified as a "global green energy power" by a new report published by The Climate Group. The report said that the country could be a "hub" for a new global energy revolution. The sector is expected to create 160,000 jobs in the UAE within 15 years and boost GDP by up to five per cent.
Research may well help solar power overcome the obstacles it faces in this country due to the dusty weather and should spur innovation at a time when the oil producing countries of the region are facing new challenges from overseas. In the United States, for instance, the oil industry is thriving as the cost of extracting shale oil decreases with the introduction of new technologies. Against a background of weakening oil prices, one shale producer is reported to have cut costs by more than 20 per cent in the past four months.
In the face of such competition, renewable energy technologies are still not advanced enough to compete with oil on a level footing. Most solar panels have a low rate of efficiency and that’s why large-scale solar projects – such as Shams 1 in Abu Dhabi – must be supplemented by advances elsewhere.
There is clearly a need to develop more suitable and smart technologies to improve the electricity system. As we have argued before, this relies on a combination of thinking big and small. This means Shams 1 and other signature projects should be supplemented by a quiet “revolution” of rooftop water heaters and solar panels in residential areas and other small-scale projects that can feed energy back into the grid.
