Al Mazrouie: UAE will tap solar power to diversify energy mix

Though it is a key member and producer in Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), the U.A.E. is opting to diversify its energy mix to include renewable and solar energy, according to Suhail Mohammed Al Mazroui, Minister of Energy. In his keynote address to the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research's 19th Annual Energy Conference :Unconventional Fossil Fuels: The Next Hydrocarbon Revolution, the minister said the U.A.E. energy diversification policy was based on its geographical and climatic nature. In his address, read on his behalf by Dr Mattar Al Neyadi, Ministry of Energy Undersecretary, Al Mazrouie noted this policy had earned the UAE a prominent stature in the region. ''The UAE has been at the forefront in using solar power technologies to generate electricity, spread knowledge and establish specialised research centres and institutes,'' he said, pointing out that the inauguration of Masdar's 100-megawatt concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, Shams 1, in the Western Region last March and the launch of the 13-megawatt Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Power Park last week demonstrate the UAE's firm commitment to sue solar power. He expected the first U.A.E.'s nuclear power plant in Braka to go operational in 2017 while capacity of the planned four plants combined will be at 5,600 megawatt in 2020. ''The UAE is seeking to bring stability to world oil markets by raising its output capacity to 3.5 mbpd by 2017 to meeting rising demand in emerging economies in Asia and Latin America and rapid economic growth in the Middle East due to demographic and economic expansion,'' he added. He noted that world demand for crude oil and natural gas, which accounted together for 57% of world energy consumption in 2012, is still high and studies estimate that demand for crude oil may rise from 89 to 104 mbpd by 2030. The two-day event seeks to explore the latest developments and technologies in the field of unconventional fossil fuels." Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi, Director General of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), said in his welcoming remarks that '' When we talk of the economic importance of a looming hydrocarbon revolution, we attempt to read what lies at the heart of this revolution. There are geo-economic political developments of great importance occurring in the field of unconventional fossil fuels today. Undoubtedly, these developments will have repercussions on the global conventional energy sector in general, and the Arab Gulf region - including the UAE - in particular. These developments will have implications for global energy markets in terms of supply and demand dynamics among consumers and producers of new energy sources. In addition, he added, we must consider the ambitions of Asian and Indian Ocean countries in particular, and what the implications of their pursuit of unconventional oil and gas may hold in the future, particularly considering the technological advances associated with the extraction of such resources - including shale gas - and the resultant reductions in the cost and effort required. ''The U.A.E. is a strategic producer of conventional energy - indeed, one also qualified in the area of renewable production - and its humane mission to achieve energy security for the world has boosted the confidence of the international community in its position in this field. Such confidence has been embodied in practice through the international community's selection of the U.A.E .to be the permanent headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), assisting in our progress toward a new era of international cooperation to address issues such as climate change, global warming and energy security. This initiative indicates an increased awareness among governments regarding the need to strengthen participation and coordinate efforts to confront present and future energy challenges a mission the ECSSR maintains and pursues for the good of the countries of the region and the world, in the field energy and elsewhere.'' The ECSSR 19th Annual Energy Conference will address the rise and competitiveness of unconventional fossil fuels, considered by many as long-term "game changers" in the energy world. It will examine their influence on global energy dynamics, supply and demand and country geopolitics, as well as their prospective role in the future of energy and its related implications for the oil-producing countries of the Arabian Gulf and the global energy industry as a whole. Al Mazroui's remarks was followed by the opening panel on Unconventional Fuels: Geopolitical Consequences for the Arabian Gulf and the UAE', which included presentations on Implications for Global Energy Markets and Gulf Producers',The US Energy Revival' and Shifting Power: From Traditional Oil and Gas Producers to Consumers and New Producers'. The second panel - The Future of Unconventional Fuels in the Asia-Pacific Region' featured papers on important areas such as China's Shale Gas Ambitions', Japan's Development of "Flammable Ice"' and Ramifications for Asia-GCC Energy Relations.