Future Proofing Abu Dhabi's Economy: The Masdar Project
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Case Code: SUST017 Case Length: 22 Pages Period: 2002 - 2013 Pub Date: 2014 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.500 Organization: Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) Industry: Oil and Energy Countries: Abu Dhabi Themes: Economic Diversification, Knowledge-based Economy, Clean Energy, Carbon Neutrality, Green Cities |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Excerpts
Masdar City
In 2008, the construction of Masdar City began on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. By building Masdar City, Abu Dhabi aimed to provide a blueprint for future cities striving for sustainability and serve as a model for how all future cities should be built. Masdar City was designed using the principles of 'One Planet Living', a global initiative based on ten sustainability principles developed by BioRegional, an entrepreneurial charity firm, and WWF (Refer to Exhibit III for One Planet Living principles)...
Masdar Clean Energy
Masdar Clean Energy was set up as a commercial-scale energy developer that aimed at building large scale renewable power generation and carbon abatement projects. In March 2013, Masdar Clean Energy invested US$ 1.7 billion of equity in projects valued at over US$ 6.4 billion, delivering 1GW of renewable energy. The most notable of these was the Shams 1 project launched in March 2013. Masdar in partnership with Total, French energy company and Abengoa, Spain's energy infrastructure company, launched Shams 1 - the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the world...
Masdar Carbon Management Unit
The UAE had one of the highest per capita carbon emission rates in the world due to its abundant hydrocarbon resources and excessive use of fossil fuels. Massive consumption of fossil fuels, high carbon and GHG emissions, and the need to recover onshore oilfields of the UAE, prompted the Government of UAE to initiate the most expensive carbon capture and storage projects in the world...
Masdar Institute Of Science And Technology
The idea behind Masdar was not just to create a carbon neutral city but also to create a laboratory for coming up with new technology to drive Abu Dhabi to the forefront of the sustainability industry and to serve as an avenue for investment in the clean technology industry. To take this initiative forward, ADFEC signed a cooperative agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) in February 2007. On being associated with MIST, MIT's Chancellor, Phillip Clay, said...
The Progress
The global financial crisis of 2008 led to a drop in the real estate prices thus affecting the progress of the Masdar project. According to Simon Breuninger (Breuninger), the German energy expert, "Masdar City had to re-think. The idea of 'build and they will come' simply did not work, because there was a glut on the market." The crisis also led to a delay in completion of the Masdar project from 2016 to 2025...
Criticisms
Despite the Masdar initiative rolling out several innovative solutions to sustainability issues, some energy experts were critical of the Masdar project. They argued that the money spent on constructing Masdar City could have been better spent on other projects. They felt that Abu Dhabi could have adopted simple solutions such as encouraging citizens to have better insulation in their buildings or equipping their houses with solar panels...
Looking Ahead
Despite receiving criticism from several quarters, Masdar continued with its efforts to scale up its renewable energy and water desalination projects. Besides conventional PVs, Masdar was also planning to generate cheap concentrated solar thermal power which used mirrors to focus sunlight and create steam. Wind turbines were also expected to be a central part of Masdar's energy mix. Masdar was also constructing the world's largest hydrogen plant and was intending to integrate hydrogen technologies into its renewable fuels mix in the future. The Masdar initiative was developing hydrogen power generation as another alternative energy technology...
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Masdar's Milestones - Past and Present
Exhibit II: A Note on Masdar's Components
Exhibit III: One Planet Living Principles
Exhibit IV: MIST's Research Domains and Key Challenges in Advanced Energy and Sustainability
Exhibit V: Awards and Accolades
Exhibit VI: MIST's iResearch Centers
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