UAE green energy firm Masdar eyes Saudi investments

UAE green energy firm Masdar eyes Saudi investments

Abu Dhabi government-owned green energy firm Masdar is looking into investing in Saudi Arabia, chief executive Sultan Al Jaber said on Tuesday.

September 11, 2012 5:22 by Reuters

Abu Dhabi government-owned green energy firm Masdar is looking into investing in Saudi Arabia, chief executive Sultan Al Jaber said on Tuesday.

“We are proactively seeking partnerships in Saudi,” Jaber told reporters, declining to give any details about the kind of project, or the investment capital under consideration.

“I can’t tell how much now because it depends on the market and the regulatory framework but we are seriously and closely looking at the Saudi market,” he said.

Investing in renewable energy projects is an increasingly popular topic among the top oil exporters of the Middle East but actual green energy installations are few and far between.

Masdar has made significant renewable energy investments in countries where political and public support for clean energy brings with it big incentives, especially in Europe.

But back in the United Arab Emirates, it has only around 10 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity up and running, with a 100-MW concentrated solar plant – the world’s biggest – under construction and another 150 MW planned nearby.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, announced plans in May to possibly build up to 41,000 MW of solar power plants within two decades at an estimated cost of over $100 billion. (Reporting by Maha El Dahan, writing by Humeyra Pamuk, editing by Daniel Fineren)