UAE & France Announce Partnership To Jointly Fund Renewable Energy Projects

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The United Arab Emirates has announced a fresh investment collaboration for renewable energy projects.

Masdar Special Projects Afghanistan Solar
Solar home systems in Afghanistan supported by Masdar Special Projects division

France will join the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to provide low-cost finance to renewable energy projects in developing countries across the world. The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and France’s L’Agence Francaise de Developpement will jointly study project proposals and extend financial support to suitable projects. The deal was announced during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2015.

The partnership will be on the same lines as the joint investment mechanism forged with New Zealand for projects in the Pacific region countries. The UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund, launched last year, has a total corpus of $50 million while the New Zealand government would provide $54 million for renewable energy projects.

The Abu Dhabi government will also continue to support renewable energy projects through its partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The ADFD and IRENA are expected to provide $57 million in low-cost debt finance to five renewable energy projects in developing countries.

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The UAE has mobilised $700 million towards renewable energy projects through the ADFD since 2009. The UAE government is working closely with the Masdar* company on renewable energy projects. Following the initial scrutiny and clearance of the project proposals, the technical support to the projects is provided by the Masdar Special Projects division.

Masdar Special Projects division generally works on projects aimed at providing electricity access in rural areas. It is currently working on such projects on 9 countries in the Pacific region. The major focus has been on small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy projects.

The Masdar Special Projects (MSP) division has been working on several distributed renewable energy projects in developing and under-developed countries. Some of these projects include off-grid solar power projects for households in Afghanistan and Morocco. One of the latest projects the MSP division is working on is a solar-powered desalination project. The project is primarily a technology demonstrator which, if successful, would be replicated in other countries as well.

Image Credit: Masdar

* The author’s trip to Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2015 was sponsored by Masdar


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Mridul Chadha

Mridul currently works as Head-News & Data at Climate Connect Limited, a market research and analytics firm in the renewable energy and carbon markets domain. He earned his Master’s in Technology degree from The Energy & Resources Institute in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management. He also has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Mridul has a keen interest in renewable energy sector in India and emerging carbon markets like China and Australia.

Mridul Chadha has 425 posts and counting. See all posts by Mridul Chadha