The UAE launched a total of 11 environmentally-friendly energy projects worth AED159 billion ($43.2 billion) last year, according to Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. 

 

The country's clean energy production in 2021 totalled 7,035.75 MW, thus underscoring its pioneering efforts in clean energy sector, stated Al Mazrouei in an interview to Wam.

 

He also highlighted the launch of the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, the first unified energy strategy by the UAE, which aims to integrate the renewable and clean energy mix to achieve a balance between economic needs and climate goals, in addition to reducing dependency on other fuel sources over the next three decades.

 

According to him, the UAE had adopted, in order to ensure the renewable energy sector's sustainability, the latest innovations that drive the path of sustainable development.

 

He pointed out that clean energy’s contribution to the energy mix last year reached 19.63% while the contribution of renewable energy reached 12% and the contribution of peaceful nuclear energy hit 7.55%.

 

The global turmoil in energy supplies has created challenges related to energy security and will, therefore, lead to a focus on using the lowest-priced resources available locally, to meet the country's energy requirements, with an increase in exports in the non-oil sector from the UAE, he added.

 

The minister said UAE had considerable potential in the field of solar power, and the low cost of solar power will enhance the country’s energy security and its competitiveness in addition to playing a key role in achieving carbon neutrality.

 

The rise of renewables requires transportation upgrades and investment in storage technologies to reliably meet energy requirements, he stated.

 

With the expected decrease in storage costs and their commercialisation, long-term storage technologies will play a major role in decarbonising the grid in a reliable and affordable way, remarked Al Mazrouei.

 

On the oil market outlook for 2023, Al Mazrouei said there are several related factors that will drive the prices this year, such as the end of China’s zero-Covid policy, the US decision to refill the strategic oil Reserve, the sanctions imposed on Russian seaborne oil products, and the ongoing global inflation.

 

He then discussed about the other factors that may negatively affect prices, including the global recession, China’s decreasing demand for oil, and the resumption of trade between Russia and Europe.

 

Al Mazrouei stressed that Barakah Nuclear Power Plant is a leading innovative energy project in the process of energy transition. Once fully operational, its four reactors will offset 22.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions, the main cause of climate change, annually.

 

The new successes and progress achieved during the process of developing the four Barakah reactors, which is the first multi-station peaceful nuclear energy project in operation in the Arab world, play a key role in reducing the carbon footprint of the UAE’s energy sector, in order to reach climate neutrality by 2050, he added.