Masdar And EDF to establish energy services company
ABU DHABI: Masdar, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies and a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, and EDF Group, low-carbon electricity leader, have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture company dedicated to energy efficiency and distributed solar power generation projects.
The agreement was signed by Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, and Valerie Levkov, EDF Senior Vice-President, Africa, Middle East and Mediterranean, at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Also present during the signing ceremony were Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, Chief Executive Officer, Aerospace, Renewables & ICT, Mubadala Investment Company, and Laurent Clement, Managing Director and CEO of EDF-Middle East.
“Today’s announcement builds on our ongoing successful partnership with the EDF Group in among others the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Al Ramahi. “By leveraging our combined local and international experience, we aim to diversify our portfolio of renewable energy projects while tackling the significant challenge of reducing building- and industry-related carbon emissions. The new joint venture will also support Abu Dhabi in achieving its 2030 energy efficiency strategy, which aims to reduce overall electricity consumption by 22 per cent and water consumption by 32 percent.”
Both entities have already developed a robust pipeline of opportunities. The EDF pipeline of opportunities has been supported by their specialised subsidiaries, namely Dalkia, EDF ENR, EDF Renewables and Citelum. Some of these projects involve a novel contracting solution, called Energy Performance Contracts, under which the project is paid for over time via the savings achieved from the energy efficiency improvements.
“Our overarching objective is to promote a sustainable development model to fully address our clients’ increasing energy needs while making a positive contribution to the fight against global warming,” said Valerie Levkov, EDF Senior Vice-President, Africa, Middle East and Mediterranean. “The energy solutions Masdar and EDF will be providing are driven by a simple yet strong ambition: bring our business clients measureable benefits such as reductions in operational costs, increased asset value and comfort improvements for their facilities’ end-users.”
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s Global Energy Transformation: A Roadmap to 2050, energy efficiency measures alone could reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 15 per cent.
The report emphasises the need for long-term investment in electrification solutions and decentralised power generation, and for countries to improve their energy efficiency by between 2 and 3.2 percent annually.
Masdar and EDF are partners in developing the 800-megawatt third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, and Saudi Arabia’s largest wind farm, the 400MW Dumat Al Jandal project. The two companies also successfully bid last year to develop the Noor Midelt Phase I hybrid solar power plant in Morocco.
Source: wam.ae
