UAE sets pace in energy diversification in Middle East

The UAE's pioneering energy diversification strategy was outlined in a speech by Dr Matar Al Niyadi, the country's Undersecretary of Energy.

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The UAE is leading the way in energy diversification in the Middle East, according to Matar Al Niyadi, the country's undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy.

"The UAE was the first country in the Middle East to announce renewable energy targets, which will see 2.5GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2030," he told delegates in a panel discussion at the World Energy Congress in Daegu, South Korea.

The first major step in this process was the inauguration in March of the Shams 1 solar plant, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant.

Mr Al Niyadi noted that about 25 per cent of the country's demand for electricity would be met by nuclear power by 2020, following the award in December 2009 of a US$20 billion contract to the Korea Electric Power Corporation for the construction of four nuclear reactors.

Also in Daegu yesterday, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation said it had become an official patron of the World Energy Council, the organisation that runs the congress.

jeverington@thenational.ae