The Sustainabilist - Energy

The Sustainabilist ISSUE 04

Fuelling Sustainable Energy

BRINGING SOLAR TO THE NATION

POWERING BUSINESS GROWTH

ISBN 978 - 1978357310

DP World reveals its distributed solar project

CONNECTING THE UAE

Exploring Safaqat

DISRUPTORS

Shams Dubai

Small investment: Big impact

WWW.THESUSTAINABILIST.AE

Issue 04 | January 2018

Letter from the Editor in Chief

Chairman, Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence

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The Sustainabilist is published by Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence PSC. Articles reprinted in this issue are copyrighted 2017 by Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence PSC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, without prior written permission of Dubai Carbon is expressively prohibited.

Printed by: Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing LLC P.O. Box - 5613, Dubai, UAE. Nothing in this magazine shall be taken as technical or advice and DCCE waives any liability with respect to any representations made.

rewards across the entire renewable energy value chain has effectively attracted top tier consortiums, which has challenged conventional business practices in renewables into a far more commercially viable model. It currently sits well above conventional power production using the most efficient fossil fuels, and awaits the commercial grade availability of energy storage to expand its own horizon. The complementarity is further enhanced by a strategy to diversify, inclusive of new sources of energy such 250MW of Hydro-power being installed at the dam in Hatta.

It has also meant that the private sector has leapt to the fore in support, through Shams Dubai, developing not only distributed solar rooftop projects of their own, such as the large scale distributed DP World project in Jafza (see pg. 24), but also by providing the expertise to install solar, and the actual physical panels, inverters, and more on large scale residential projects such as the Hatta Development Project (see pg. 32). In 2014 when the DEWA project began, there was little such expertise available in the private sector, but today it is booming.

“of energy and has built an Dubai is the new face

“

Eng. Waleed Salman

Solar energy has been one of the numerous achievements the GCC has provided in the realm of sustainability in recent years, with Dubai leading the paradigm shift of future energy. One such enabler has its roots in the IPP policy that made its debut in Dubai at the end of 2014. The Independent Power Producer (IPP) policy was first issued to facilitate the development of utility grade solar power plants, with DEWA pioneering as a global leader in the single site solar farm.

Through this strategy, the Dubai Solar Revolution made its mark by setting not once, not twice, but three times in a row, a new global benchmark for solar tariffs. The MBR Solar Park allowed renewable energy prices to drop from US 5.4 cents/kWh to US 2.99 cents/kWh in just over a year for PV, and reached US 7.3 cents/kWh for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).

At the end of 2017, we witnessed more than 4,000 MW of IPP projects in the pipeline in partnership with the private sector, and total investment of over AED 32 billion.

What this really means is that under the visionary leadership of the UAE, the allocation of both risks and

industry from an idea, and a movement from a project.

To read the latest digital copy go to: www.theSustainabilist.ae 1

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

Contents The Sustainabilist ISSUE 04

Fueling Sustainable Energy

01 04

BRINGING SOLAR TO THE NATION

ISBN 978 - 1978357310

DP World reveals its distributed solar project

CONNECTING THE UAE

Exploring Safaqat

Small Investment: Big Impact

WWW.THESUSTAINABILIST.AE

ON THE COVER His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, ENOC Group CEO

DISRUPTOR Pawame has changed thousands of people’s lives in East Africa by bringing a solar home solution to the most remote parts of the region. The solar kit works off a micro-finance rent to own model, and the company not only provides power, but also jobs.

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NEWS ANALYSIS ACWA Power sets the stage with SolarCoin

06 08

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THOUGHT LEADER Leveraging CSP and energy storage for a secure energy future

10

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THOUGHT LEADER Solar is set to soar

12

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THOUGHT LEADER Blockchain; putting power in your hands

14

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YOUTH Sustainable schooling at Safa

16

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THE SUSTAINABILIST Ivano Iannelli

18 24

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28

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FEATURE Energy efficieny and potential national savings in the UAE

32

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FEATURE Hello sunshine!

36

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FEATURE Solar revolution

40

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SPECIAL REPORT

42

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INTERVIEW Powering the nation

DISRUPTORS

Shams Dubai

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S LETTER

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05

POWERING BUSINESS GROWTH

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44 48

TOP TIPS Saving energy

50

THOUGHT LEADER Turning up the heat on energy efficiency and renewable energy

54 56 58 60

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INTERVIEW The energy mix revolution

INTERVIEW Working together for low carbon prosperity

RESEARCH

PROJECT Maysun Solar builds solar panel assembly plant in JAFZA PRODUCT Diya One X

DISRUPTORS Small investment: Big impact

INDEX

COVER Fuelling sustainability

CASE STUDY Powering business growth

Pioneering in alternative energy sources

INTERVIEW Safaqat is the regions first crowdfunded platform for purchasing home solar solutions. These solutions allow home owners to use solar to power their homes, as well as feed excess electricity back into the grid through DEWA’s Shams Program, thereby slashing their DEWA bills.

First solar-powered petrol station in the UAE

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

ACWA Power sets the stage with SolarCoin The power-producer’s investment in the cryptocurrency sets the standard for the rest of the industry

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“our adoption

We hope that

of SolarCoin will attract interest by other stakeholders and individuals so the cryptocurrency’s

“

R

enewable-energy based cryptocurrencies are gaining traction in the market, with more and more being produced globally. Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power has recognised this value and has adopted SolarCoin, the cryptocurrency that incentivises solar power generators, both big and small, by distributing digital coins at a rate of one SolarCoin (SLR) per one MWh of solar energy produced.

“SolarCoin is an instrument that can potentially accelerate the adoption of renewable energy through a dedicated digital currency. The reward it gives producers like us is in the form of digital coins based on solar energy produced; however, the cryptocurrency has a positive actionable impact on environmental sustainability. More importantly, the growing community further accelerates solar energy deployment globally,” Paddy Padmanathan, CEO and President of ACWA Power told The Sustainabilist.

As the price of SolarCoins appreciate, and more and more users agree to accept Solarcoin for transactions, it will become an additional and relevant revenue stream for solar power producers such as ACWA Power, resulting in an incentive for solar energy investors to install

community can widen.

Paddy Padmanathan, CEO and President of ACWA Power

Juergen Faelchle/Shutterstock.com

NEWS ANALYSIS

more generation capacity. “The value of SolarCoin is based on supply and demand, it’s currently in the early adoption phase but as more organisations and people accept SolarCoin for value representation and transactions, the community will grow. This is about a bigger ecosystem of people who will participate to buy and sell services with it and we will start to get a stable platform that will continue to appreciate in value,” stated Padmanathan.

“We hope that our adoption of SolarCoin will attract interest by other stakeholders and individuals so the cryptocurrency’s community can widen.”

According to David Ungar, Executive Director Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Sustainabilty, ACWA Power, the company decided to start using SolarCoin to add extra value to its business, and will be using this cryptocurrency investment to help to begin to build the regional ecosystem for using the cryptocurrencies in transactions.

The investment is likely to bring both new revenue, and long-term value to the company as well as opening the flood-gates to other power generation companies that want to start looking into cryptocurrencies as a value-add for their business.

Issue 04 | January 2018

TOP TIPS

Set your thermostat at 24°C Most people are comfortable with a temperature of 24°C, so try to always set your AC to this temperature when you are at home. This will save electricity, money and the environment.

Top energy saving tips for 2018

Reduce your electricity use during peak hours By avoiding the use of electricity from 12pm (mid-day) to 6pm, especially during summer, you will help to reduce the strain on the electricity network that is at its highest during these hours, as power plants have to produce more electricity to meet the air conditioning demand.

Replace your old appliances If your appliances such as your washing machine, clothes dryer, cooker, fridge or TV are older than 10 years, they are likely to be very energy inefficient. Modern appliances are likely to be more energy efficient, particularly those with the higher ratings on the energy efficiency labels provided by the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA).

Think when using the light When switching on a light, think if you really need it. Perhaps daylight is enough. Think also if your lamps are efficient, i.e. if they are Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) or even better Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) that are typically 25% to 80% more efficient than traditional incandescence lightbulbs, and replace them if not.

Look for energy saving opportunities An energy audit will help you identify energy saving opportunities at home or at work. A professional energy auditor will suggest you best actions for you to save electricity and even help you to implement them!

An energy audit will help you identify energy saving opportunities at home or at work.

Go ahead and implement the no cost or low cost energy saving measures for some quick energy saving wins.

The RSB Dubai (www.rsbdubai.gov. ae) has a list of accredited energy auditing companies with competent professionals that will do a walk. through audit to your home or office and identify energy saving measures.

For more expensive or complicated energy saving measures, the RSB Dubai also has a list of accredited Energy Saving Companies (ESCO) that will help you with the implementation and even the financing in some cases through a shared or a guaranteed savings contract.

Source: Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence

5

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

THOUGHT LEADER

Turning up the heat on energy efficiency and renewable energy Expo 2020 Dubai aims to meet ambitious sustainability targets while providing a platform for international collaboration that could lead to the next innovative solution to the world’s growing energy challenges said Daniel Render, Expo 2020 Dubai’s Director, Sustainability

E

nergy used in buildings, industry and transportation is responsible for at least two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions, and as the world population increases and becomes more developed, demand will continue to skyrocket.

The International Energy Agency estimates global oil demand will continue to grow until 2040.

Even if the current international pledges to reduce carbon emissions were to be implemented, they would only slow down the projected rise in energy-related carbon emissions and would limit the rise in average global temperatures to 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100 – still higher than the ideal two degrees Celsius.

This rise in temperatures places an unprecedented level of stress on our planet’s resources, creating an urgent need to reduce energy demand and identify alternative sources of clean and renewable energy.

Expo 2020 Dubai sees sustainability as key for humanity’s long-term survival and essential to the conservation of our planet’s limited

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resources for future generations. This focus is also aligned with the national strategy of the United Arab Emirates government and Vision 2021, which has made it a priority to diversify its energy sources and reduce the country’s carbon footprint.

Sustainability is one of Expo 2020’s three key subthemes, along with Opportunity and Mobility, and energy is a major component of our sustainability strategy.

As well as delivering a sustainable legacy, renewable energy infrastructure and innovative green technologies on the Expo site, we also intend to extend our sustainability impact beyond the physical boundaries of the site.

Expo 2020 aims to contribute to the UAE’s renewable energy goals, increase public awareness about sustainable living, and serve as a catalyst for the development of sustainable solutions that are scalable, extending benefits to the wider economy.

One of our key sustainability KPIs is to use renewable energy to supply half of the 4.38 kilometre-squared site’s energy requirements during the

six-month event. We are doing this through multiple avenues, including on-site renewable energy systems and tapping into the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

We recently announced a Sustainability Champions competition for UAE schools in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and the Ministry of Education. This competition will result in Expo 2020 Dubai providing solar panels to the two winning schools that have demonstrated their commitment to sustainability.

This is the first of many initiatives that Expo 2020 Dubai has planned to ensure that we broaden our impact and leave a lasting sustainable legacy.

But, we are not only focusing on the use of renewable sources of energy – we aim to cut our energy use from the beginning. Our target is for Expo 2020’s energy consumption to be 20 percent below international standards (based on the ASHRAE 90.1 international standard). Based on our current designs, we expect to exceed

Issue 04 | January 2018

that could also be incorporated into our legacy development plans for District 2020.

This can include energy storage and microgrid solutions, alternative water sources, and embrace the concept of a ‘circular’ economy where we treat our waste as a valuable resource that is used in new and innovative ways.

“

Expo 2020 intends to engage and inspire millions of participants, collaborators and visitors to do more with less and preserve our planet. for future.

“

that target, with a 23% reduction in OP T I PThis S is equivalent annualTenergy use. to about 150,000 megawatt hours of energy – enough to power nearly 12,000 homes in the UAE Expo 2020 Dubai’s approach is to prioritise passive solutions first, followed by highly efficient active solutions, and finally, the incorporation of innovative new technologies. We believe this is the most effective and scalable approach to addressing our energy challenges.

Passive strategies are based on what our ancestors did before urbanisation: working with nature, only taking what is needed, leaving a place better than you found it.

At Expo 2020, we will use shading to reduce the need for energy-intensive air-conditioning, optimise our designs so that we “build less”, create a pedestrian and bicycle-friendly urban environment to encourage alternative methods of transportation and reduce vehicle use.

Our active strategies seek to optimise our buildings and systems to further reduce energy consumption.

This includes high performance building facades that minimise heat gain, use smart metering and building management systems that optimise building performance and reduce energy and water use.

We will also install daylighting and LED light fixtures to reduce electrical lighting demand, as well as see RTA’s extension to the Dubai Metro (Route 2020) to the Expo 2020 site to reduce transportation energy by road.

We also live at a time when we have the knowledge, technology and, increasingly, the will to find new, innovative solutions to live in harmony with our environment. While our economic and technological success as a species has led to greater consumption, innovation is also an important tool in rebalancing what humanity consumes and what the Earth can naturally supply and absorb.

We are actively engaged with our partners and stakeholders to identify innovations and new technologies that we will showcase at Expo 2020, but

Daniel Render, Expo 2020 Dubai’s Director, Sustainability

Sustainability

Expo 2020 will be an unprecedented opportunity to not only showcase the latest in energy technology and ideas, but to bring together innovators, entrepreneurs and policy-makers from around the world to

help address the urgent need for better energy solutions.

Investment in low-carbon technologies is expected to significantly rise, particularly after the Paris Agreement which came into force in November 2016.

This presents potentially lucrative opportunities for fast-acting innovators and organisations.

Expo 2020 is already demonstrating this by collaborating with our Official Premier Automotive Partner, Nissan, to help shape the future of intelligent mobility, starting with a fleet that includes electric vehicles and next generation cars featuring advanced technologies.

Similarly, we are also working very closely, of course, with our Official Sustainable Energy Partner, DEWA as we seek to deliver our Expo in as sustainable way as possible.

Collaborations such as this create a powerful force behind the new innovations and technologies that become more feasible when multiple stakeholders are involved.

Expo 2020 Dubai has the opportunity to weave together the best ideas from our many collaborators and to develop ‘cross-industry’, horizontal innovations in energy production and storage, mobility solutions, smart building and smart cities. The possibilities are endless.

Ultimately, technological solutions of any kind will fail to solve our greatest challenges if we do not also increase public awareness of sustainability principles and sustainable living.

Expo 2020 intends to engage and inspire millions of participants, collaborators and visitors to do more with less and preserve our planet for future generations.

As the Year of Zayed begins, we at Expo contemplate the values set forth by this Year (Wisdom, Respect, Sustainability and Human Development). Sustainability is at the forefront of these values, and as such, we will strive to demonstrate that sustainability is in reality, a necessity – and an opportunity for growth and human development.

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

THOUGHT LEADER

Leveraging CSP and energy storage for a secure energy future Dr. Steven Griffiths, Senior Vice President for Research at Khalifa University for Science and Technology, looks at how concentrated solar power (CSP) could be the way forward for large-scale power

D

ubai’s planned 1,000 megawatt (MW) concentrated solar power (CSP) plant with thermal energy storage (TES) capability has highlighted the important role of energy storage in balancing systems with high levels of renewable energy. The planned facility, which is to be the largest CSP plant in the world when completed in 2030, is part of Dubai’s broader Clean Energy Strategy 2050 that aims to provide seven per cent of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources by 2020, 25% by 2030, and 75% by 2050.

While solar photovoltaic technology (PV) is currently the most popular form of solar energy technology and the cheapest per installed watt, it does have limitations, namely intermittency. CSP with thermal energy storage, on the other hand, is a commercially proven approach for providing largescale, dispatchable power. However, the cost of the technology needs to continue to fall if it is to be competitive against other dispatchable power sources such as gas and coal-fired power plants. Dubai has already demonstrated the potential for such cost reduction when in 2017 it tendered and awarded a 700MW 8

Dr. Steven Griffiths, Senior Vice President for Research at Khalifa University for Science and Technology

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant, which when operational in 2020 will deliver electricity at a record low price for this technology of 7.3 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

In order to capitalize on CSP’s compatibility with TES and the UAE’s ambitions for the renewable energy deployment, Masdar Institute, part of the Khalifa University of Science and Technology, is leading a number of research projects that seek to overcome remaining technical and operational obstacles in the competitiveness of CSP with TES relative to incumbent technologies.

The Institute launched its Concentrated Solar Power on Demand Demonstration (CSPonD Demo) pilot at the Masdar Institute Solar Platform (MISP) in October 2015. The demonstration aims to test and prove that the Institute’s novel single-tank TES system, which absorbs and stores thermal energy using molten salt, is more affordable and efficient than

Issue 04 | January 2018

which they expect to validate at the Masdar Institute’s novel beam-down CSP tower, the Masdar Institute Solar Platform (MISP). The platform seeks to enable demonstration of new CSP and TES technologies, which could result

“

The UAE’s commitment to CSP is demonstrated by the already operational 100MW Shams 1 concentrated solar power plant in Abu Dhabi and now Dubai’s impressive CSP ambitions.

“

conventional two-tank systems.

The prototype is designed to directly absorb and store 600kWh of thermal energy in a one-tank system on the ground, thus avoiding the need to pump molten salt to the top of the solar power tower, which is the method employed by traditional two-tank TES systems. In this way, the demo will produce constant power of 25 kW at all times of the day and night.

The CSPonD Demo system avoids the use of pipes, pumps, electric tracking systems, and double tanks by bringing the sunlight down directly to a receiver on the ground, which it does through secondary mirrors placed at the top of the tower.

To reproduce the two-tank system in one tank, a divider plate separates the hot molten salt on top from the cooler salt below. As the plate moves down, the 550 °C molten salt is fed into a salt-to-steam heat exchanger where it can be used to produce steam for power generation with a turbine. Cooler molten salt takes its place to repeat the cycle.

In order to capture more of the reflected light from the secondary mirror on top of the solar beam-down tower, the team built a cone that funnels the reflected sunlight evenly into the receiver.

The initial concept for the CSPonD Demo originated from research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which was published in 2011, and is one of nine Masdar Institute-MIT Flagship Research Projects undertaken since 2010, each bringing together teams of faculty from both Masdar Institute and MIT to address key strategic research areas with the intent to build critical mass and make sizeable research impact for the UAE and the region.

Masdar Institute has collaborated with MIT to scale-up the original design to create a pre-commercial scale prototype,

Dr. Steven Griffiths, Senior Vice President for Research at Khalifa University for Science and Technology in a significant impact on clean power production by allowing solar energy to be available throughout day and night in a cost-efficient way. In this way MISP aims to provide the foundation for new product development, cooperation with local and international companies and academic organizations, and the creation of highlytrained human capital in CSP and TES

systems in the UAE. Masdar Institute’s CSPonD activities aim to contribute to a more affordable and reliable form of solar energy capture. Despite the results of the recent CSP tender in Dubai, CSP with thermal energy storage faces significant price competition from incumbent as well as emerging technologies, particularly in the electricity sector. Therefore, this demonstration at the MISP aims to provide a new CSP innovation that can perhaps tip the scales in favor of CSP for a variety of applications requiring long-term energy storage.

In further support of CSP innovation, the Institute is also collaborating with Norwegian company EnergyNest to use a special blend of concrete called Heatcrete® in a smart modular configuration to store thermal energy.

It allows for storage of thermal energy up to 400°C, making it the first hightemperature thermal energy storage demonstration system in the Middle East.

This innovative new technology has the potential to drop the costs of TES systems in CSP facilities significantly. The plant is being operated 24 hours a day to show that the material can continually be used to store and release heat without problematic loss. After more than 130 cycles, that material demonstrated no degradation and hence appears ready to support the thermal energy storage needs of the UAE and the region.

Moving forward, Masdar Institute will continue to push forward R&D and innovation for CSP and thermal energy storage technologies. The UAE’s commitment to CSP is demonstrated by the already operational 100MW Shams 1 concentrated solar power plant in Abu Dhabi and now Dubai’s impressive CSP ambitions. Such commitment creates a unique platform for indigenous R&D and innovation that can support national ambitions.

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

THOUGHT LEADER

Solar is set to soar The falling cost of renewables brings new economic opportunity to the Gulf according to Adnan Z. Amin, DirectorGeneral of the International Renewable Energy Agency

I

n recent years, the speed at which renewable energy has become cost competitive, is staggering. Since 2010, the cost of generating power from solar photovoltaic energy has fallen by nearly 75%, and from offshore wind by a quarter. As a result of this spectacular progress, the cost of generating new power from most renewable energy sources is now competitive with any other source of energy in many parts of the world.

It is a milestone moment, one that marks a new age of renewable energy growth, defined not just by environmental objectives, but by economic opportunity.

Today, renewable energy fuels economic growth, provides millions of skilled jobs, enhances energy security and is driving a paradigm shift in the way the world generates, distributes and consumes energy. It also brings widespread socioeconomic benefits, such as better health prospects, breakthrough energy access for hundreds of millions living off the grid, and has the potential to significantly improve water security providing, lower cost, low-carbon desalination solutions.

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Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General International Renewable Energy Agency

In few regions have these cost reductions been more visible than in the Gulf – a region now emerging as a frontrunner of the new energy age. Several Gulf leaders have recognised that an opportunity exists to compete for a share of the new energy economy and extend long-held positions of energy leadership.

The foresight is noteworthy, but it is the actions they have taken that is truly remarkable. Take the United Arab Emirates, where IRENA is headquartered. In a clear signal of the importance of renewable energy to its low-carbon economic agenda, it announced plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 70%, improve energy efficiency by 40% and generate 44%

Issue 04 | January 2018

of its power from renewable energy by 2050. Enabling policies and an attractive investment climate have delivered investment certainty and sent costs tumbling. Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have held global solar PV cost records, and more recently Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park established a new global cost benchmark for concentrated solar power (CSP), a key technology that offers solar energy storage for use in our homes and buildings at night, or whenever demand for power peaks. It is an important technology that in almost every way competes head to head with gas, oil or coal on a like for like basis but it has never been able to compete on cost.

The 7.3 US cents per KWh, secured at the Dubai Solar Park last year, changed that and paves the way for a broader mix of technologies in the energy system.

In Saudi Arabia, renewable energy is a central component of its economic diversification strategy, Vision 2030.

It’s recently launched national renewable energy programme targets nearly 10 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2023. For the Kingdom, renewables will become a new engine of economic growth, creating thousands of domestic jobs across the value chain, and securing billions of dollars of private sector investment.

At its launch, the Energy Minister, H.E Khalid Al Falih, declared that the programme sought to position the Kingdom as a developer, manufacturer and exporter of clean technology and knowledge. There can be no stronger endorsement for the disruptive economic potential of renewable energy, nor of the changing global energy landscape, than when an oil superpower makes such commitments.

In its very first competitive tender under the programme, two of the eight submissions represented the lowest costs seen anywhere in the world at the time.

Behind them, were Abu Dhabi’s Masdar

and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power – both as part of consortiums – with bids of USD 1.79 and 2.34 cents per kilowatt hour respectively for 300 megawatts (MW) of solar. Put into perspective, that is less than half of the cost of the cheapest form of fossil fuel generated power.

Indeed, these two nations share much in common, but it is their implementation of competitive tendering, together with excellent renewable energy resources and long-term commitments that has facilitated this benchmark pricing.

Furthermore, these costs are still falling. Our analysis shows that power from solar PV could half again by 2020 – making it by far the lowest-cost source of new power generation available.

And while it is not clear where these new prices will be set, it would be no surprise if this region’s ambition to diversify economically through energy transformation, brought more renewable energy records right here to the Gulf.

Adnan Z. Amin is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), currently serving his second term. He has more than 25 years of experience in renewable energy, sustainable development and environmental policy. Mr. Amin joined the Agency in 2010 as Interim Director-General. In April 2011, he was elected as IRENA’s first Director-General.

During his tenure, IRENA has achieved near universal membership and grown to become the global authority on renewable energy. The Agency today provides the world community with a strong, international co-operation framework to accelerate the energy transformation. A key priority of Amin’s tenure at IRENA has been to create an inclusive and agile organisation, responsive to the needs of its members. As such, the Agency is now recognised as a key contributor to processes such as the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the G7 and G20.

Prior to joining IRENA, Amin served as Head of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Secretariat. In this capacity, he oversaw the Secretariat supporting the CEB in its UN system-wide policy co-ordination under the UN Secretary-General and comprising the Executive Heads of UN System organisations, at a time when major initiatives on climate change and the financial crisis were introduced. Mr. Amin also led the Secretariat for the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the areas of development, environment and humanitarian assistance. The panel undertook an unprecedented level of consultation, and proposed an ambitious reform programme that was widely implemented under the framework of “One UN” and “Delivering as One”.

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The Sustainabilist ||ENERGY ENERGY

THOUGHT LEADER

Blockchain - putting power in your hands The distributed ledger system is

Alexandru Chiriac/Shutterstock.com

enabling power players of all sizes to enter the green sphere

By Ivano Iannelli CEO, Dubai Carbon

B

lockchain has been a buzzword for cryptocurrencies since 2015, but with more research into the uses of the distributed ledger technology, energy industry analysts now believe that blockchain technology can resolve data management issues, and errors that are faced by energy producers, and put the power of generation directly into the hands of independent power producers.

How? Electricity is produced by fossil fuels, wind, water, or other renewable sources, and one electron of energy is indistinguishable to the energy grid, so, to track the production of renewable power, the energy industry and governments developed a series of certificates which can be traded. However, the management of these certificates is currently archaic

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and can easily be wrong, through a simple mistake, or outright number manipulation.

Enter blockchain. Instead of basing the energy produced on certificates, what if we used blockchain to manage and keep track of these certificates, and how much renewable energy is produced? The use of blockchain in applications such as this would reduce errors, and improve efficiency dramatically, benefitting everyone in the value-chain. Many experts believe that in the long-term blockchain will help transform the rather archaic architecture of the actual energy grid.

Let’s look at what blockchain actually is. A blockchain is a shared, encrypted ledger maintained by a network of computers, which verify transactions. To use cryptocurrency as an example, blockchain verifies the transfer of a cryptocurrency between individuals. Each cryptocurrency user can access the ledger,

and there is no single authority. On a basic level, blockchain turns currencies and commodities into a digital form, owned by no-one.

So, how does blockchain relate to energy grids? Currently on a renewable energy grid, a meter registers how much power is produced by a renewable power plant, this is plotted onto a spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet is sent to a registry provider where the data gets input into their system, and a certificate is created.

Yet another company takes those certificates and brokers deals between buyers and sellers. The certificates are then verified after purchase. As you can imagine this process, involving so many steps, is prone to user error and is not transparent – putting off many potential investors.

Because of the distributed ownership of blockchain, and the ability to share

Issue January 2018 Issue 04 04| |January

share resources. This allows for efficiencies such as any EV charger can be powered by a solar rooftop project and shared with my neighbor and we both economically leverage each other.

The start-up changing the game Australian-based start-up Power Ledger, has created software to allow

“

Instead of basing the energy produced on certificates, what if we used blockchain to manage and keep track of these certificates, and how much renewable energy is produced?

“

blocks of data, blockchain would allow a network of peers - for example independent power producers and consumers - to feed energy to a grid and be able to track its usage. Blockchain would allow the meter to write the amount of electricity produced - by an individual or company - directly to the blockchain system. This would avoid user error, cut out several middlemen, and improve transaction speed, verification, and efficiency.

Right now, energy grids are based around centralised, costly infrastructures who manage pricing, and distribution.

Blockchain would enable the ever-growing number of smaller players in renewable, essentially you, and me, and any size rooftop project - to connect to a grid and leverage the green electricity it generates directly with peers on the network interested in purchasing its renewable rights.

Currently cost is limiting the development of smaller power players.

The fact that in many countries it can take months for a power producer to get paid using the standard certificate system, as you can imagine with the complexities of the process that is currently in place, hampers innovation. However, with a system based on blockchain, producers can be paid immediately, because exact production can be immediately measured and verified. This freeing up of capital allows much smaller players to enter the power grid, because they will need less capital to start and run a power generation business.

Let’s take it one step further. What if everyone with a solar panel or power generation capabilities could be a green provider?

This is where the microgrid and peer-to-peer comes in. A microgrid is where neighbours, businesses, business parks, and villa complexes, for example,

Ivano Iannelli, CEO Dubai Carbon consumers in groups of apartments or commercial properties to share excess energy from their solar systems to their neighbours, enabled by blockchain,

using cryptocurrencies. There are no middlemen. The start-up raised AUD 34 million in just six weeks. To take part in the Power Ledger blockchain, you must own cryptocurrency "Blockchain and cryptocurrency really makes the concept of peer-to-peer and the ability to support distributed renewables a global possibility," said Power Ledger co-founder David Martin told BAC News in Australia. "By opening it up to a cryptocurrency, it allows us to make the applications interoperable - so a peer to peer application in Australia may over time be interoperable with an EV charging application in America or an asset germination event in India."

There are many other immediate benefits such as being able to select a clean energy source, receive more money for green power, benefit from transparency of all trades on a blockchain and very low-cost settlement costs all leading to lower power bills and improved returns for investments in distributed renewables, according to the Power Ledger website.

Blockchain software leverages a concept of digital ghosts, where software reads the outputs of electricity meters and can measure the amount of energy that is consumed or generated. Those two pieces of information are then recorded on the blockchain and used to move the rights of green from one person to another, which is a digital representation of energy.

The buyer receives the green credentials and the seller banks payment almost simultaneously - which means once the coin lands in the seller's digital wallet, they can then convert them to currency.

Platforms like SolarCoin and Power Ledger are currently operating projects across the globe. If this technology is starting to become available, this allows the consumer to choose what kind of power they want to use.

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

YOUTH

Sustainable schooling at Safa

Safa Community School has revised its curriculum to include practical learning around protecting the environment, according to Leanne Fridd, Head Teacher Foundation and Primary

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here is a quote which has stuck with me as an educator and it was – ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’

Mahatma Ghandi. In the news today, around the world, we have begun to see the impact our human actions have had on the environment, which have led to the destruction of many animal habitats, including our own oceans and forests. It made us as a school realise that the target audience to promote and implement change should lie with our learners, as they are the most influential and passionate. Here at Safa Community School, we love how divergent our children are. They look at situations in such a positive and inspiring way; we really do believe that they will be the change we want to see in the world. Hence the reason for revising our school curriculum in March 2016.

In September 2016, we were fortunate to begin #projectgreen. A new playground which consists of the Safa Stream, over 200 trees, a garden and bokashi bin which the children are responsible for. This inspiring new playground has allowed children to take a personal responsibility by looking after their own learning environment, 14

but also recognising the importance of planting and growing.

This has now expanded with the addition of our mud kitchen, which has been developed by two of our wonderful foundation stage teachers, Jennifer Thompson and Beth Walters.

As a school, we felt it was important for our children to begin to learn about overarching concepts rather than just ‘themes’ which had no direct correlation to everyday life. We looked at the context our children lived in, the different factors they were dealing with in an ever-changing world and we created the following: Culture, Global Awareness, Sustainability, Discovery and Innovation, Leadership and Decision Making, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.

To support our curriculum, we appointed an Environmental Education coordinator, the inspiring Charlotte Hicks. Her work and dedication towards the school, regarding environmental education has been outstanding. She has lead a team of young children for the past two years, who were recognised and helped the school be awarded with their Eco Schools - Green Flag, which is international recognition

of their excellence in Environmental Education. Over this past term, as part of our sustainability concept, children looked at sea life, natural disasters, historical events, gardening, the palm, Expo 2020, rainforests, and fair trade.

The impact this has had on children’s learning has been exemplary.

As part of our curriculum, we always encourage year groups to look at how their learning is related to the real world. Our student leadership have been influential, as our Eco Warriors have implemented a school wide recycling system, a sustainability policy, trash free Tuesday and Thursday, and ensured the removal of plastic knives and forks in our cafeteria.

As part of our celebration of learning, we always love to get our parents involved. So, during our parental engagement week last year, our parents were invited into lessons to write sustainable action plans for their home. These were aimed at looking at how we as a community could lower our carbon footprint.

As we are in the middle of planning for our School Fayre, we want to continue to support our sustainable nature, where children are encouraged to bring their own drink bottles and we have stands from both DEWA and Expo 2020 to raise awareness in our community regarding sustainable practices here in Dubai.

From a broader perspective, we are fortunate to be led by a very dynamic board of governors. One who works in the field of sustainability and carbon emissions management, constantly provides our school with opportunities and assessments of our premises for renewable energy potential. We also have two board members who are very proactive and want to adopt approaches from countries who are already demonstrating best practice in the field of environmental education.

In July 2017, we had big bright recycled containers to replace our changing sheds and we are currently looking into having our own recycling station here on school site.

So, I guess the challenge is if we can be the change we want to see in the world, can you?

PARKING PROBLEMS ARE NOT YOUR PROBLEM Ride hassle free with Careem

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

“

The reason I am successful today is because I have done every possible mistake there was to do and I have learned from it.

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Issue 04 | January 2018

THE SUSTAINABILIST THE SUSTAINABILIST

Ivano Iannelli CEO - Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence

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ustainability and green became a passion of mine through an article in an in-flight magazine I read during a flight from Rome to Afghanistan via Dubai in 2002. It was one of the first pieces of coverage on the first solar farm in Spain.

At the UN, we were all into development and trying to implement positive change. I was doing development cooperation, so I would go into a country with a pocket full of money that I must spend to make living conditions better.

The first thing that comes to mind is the phrase ‘give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and you will feed him for life.’

I am looking at a solar farm; new jobs, new skills, new areas and essentially, I can fix problems related to logistics in places like South Sudan, in places like Afghanistan where conventionally I would just fly in a generator, and have the headache of trying to get a steady fuel supply.

On subsequent flights to Dubai, the UN discussed the creation of Humanitarian City and the establishment of a strong presence in Dubai, which could fulfil the requirements of the region. We were shifting away from all post-conflicts in the Balkans to a lot more diverse scenarios; in Afghanistan and Iraq with elections, with South East Asia and the tsunami, with development in countries like Liberia. All of these were served by the Dubai hub simply because of proximity and extraordinary logistics.

We were stockpiling generators, we were stockpiling cars.

In 2007 the UN opened a dialogue with DEWA, I was with the UN, looking at their carbon assets. DEWA was one of the first entities in Dubai together with Dubal to consider looking at their efficiencies from a carbon angle, and at

that time we were looking at a carbon market which was peaking at roughly EUR 30 per tonne. Immediately they opened a dialogue and they started assessing their potential and their activities.

In the years following these initial discussions, DEWA was more and more exposed to carbon markets and the green economy as a whole and the global financial downturn happened. So, if you substitute the financial downturn with an immediate need for a business to become more efficient, you have your synergy.

Where businesses took 10 steps back towards CSR and cosmetic enhancements of business practices, DEWA took it 10 steps forward and made the concept of carbon an integral part of the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy.

The reason I am successful today is because I have done every possible mistake there was to do and I have learned from it. While someone who is starting now is yet to do those mistakes. I have suitcases and suitcases and boxes and boxes of mistakes that I have made.

I recall a board meeting back in 2009, a very high-level meeting with Emirates Airlines, at the table, there were about 12 people and there was only one young junior Emirati. I was suggested to always to focus on the Emiratis. Today of those senior expats, none of them is in the UAE. The Emirati is now senior.

I learned that we have to focus on this country. We are expats, we are guests and a lot has been awarded to us.

My focus is to institutionalise knowledge.

I will not add as much value if my focus is on another expat whose strategy is most frequently short sighted and linked to one’s own travel cycles. The Emirati is here to stay. It is their country.

Sudan impacted me the most on my travels when I was young, travelling with my father who was a diplomat.

Sudan was not rich, but it is not a matter of buying resources, they just are not available. One time, during an official mission, there was a problem with the ambassador’s car battery and we needed to find another car battery. I was still a kid then. We asked a taxi driver to help us, he just gave us his car battery, he didn’t ask for names, money, or anything - he just gave it to us and said bring it back when you are done.

That unstructured act of kindness really resonated with me thereafter because he could have asked for money and we would have given him everything.

What really strikes me about developing countries, and a big difference to where we are now, is perception. Everything is disposable in our society, starting from disposable plastic bottles, which in a developing country, a bottle is a container. I would go to developing countries across the globe where people were more after our waste than our money.

In the desert in Afghanistan kids were asking us for our empty bottles, because for them it was a way to carry water from one point to another, or if you consider just how often you would repair an item in Africa, whereas here we just dispose of it, whether it is a television, a computer, a telephone, whatever.

Developing countries’ ability to recycle assets is exponentially greater than ours and we have a lot to learn from them.

I think Dubai Carbon is part of a legacy that I am leaving. I wish I could claim the full merit and I probably do when there is not such a wide audience, but essentially, I think Dubai Carbon has become the enabler of sustainability within the greater dynamic vision of the Emirate of Dubai. Dubai has become an international phenomenon representing change and best practices.

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

COVER STORY

Fuelling sustainability His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, ENOC Group CEO told The Sustainabilist about the Group’s sustainability strategy going forward

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Issue 04 | January 2018

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As an organisation, we are committed to continuously improving our sustainability performance, which means we recognise positive change and adapt to it.

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His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, ENOC Group CEO

Q. How are you incorporating sustainability, in particular energy savings and alternative energy sources, into your corporate strategy?

ENOC’s operational excellence across the length and breadth of its businesses is well-known in the market, and so is our intensive work in Energy & Resource Management (E&RM).

We work closely with the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy Fuel Abatement Strategy Committee and the Council’s demand-side management to ensure our energy and resource management goals are met, which is another imperative of the UAE government to enhance carbon-emission standards.

ENOC’s strategy includes anticipated savings and a projected payback period, and to achieve this, ENOC works to identify where, when, why, and how much energy and resources are used in all its activities. Our operations also measure, monitor, analyse and benchmark E&RM use in all areas of operations in order to determine the savings potential and improvements in working efficiency, while monitoring the Group’s overall energy performance.As an organisation, we are committed to continuously improving our sustainability performance, which means we recognise positive change and adapt to it.

As a testament to this belief, in 2016, we proposed the incorporation of the sustainability performance index made of 19 KPIs including specific KPIs on E&RM in the Group’s performance management system.

In recognition of the importance of ingraining sustainability within ENOC, in 2016 a new Group Sustainability Office was established leading to the establishment of a Sustainability Governance Structure with nine committees exclusively focusing on critical sustainability issues related to the Group ranging from Energy & Resource Management, Environment, Climate Change, Fuel Efficiency and Corporate Social Responsibility. Moreover, in 2017 we launched our first Sustainability Performance report with the region’s first sustainability performance index for the oil & gas sector in Middle East to chart and monitor ENOC’s performance over three pillars of sustainability – economic, social and environmental.

Q. How much of your petrol station’s energy needs will be taken up by the PV solar systems being retrofitted at your petrol stations, and can you tell us a bit more about that project?

ENOC Group initiated its solar photovoltaic (PV) panel pilot project at ENOC’s Dubai Internet City service station on Sheikh Zayed Road last year, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions and achieving 100% savings in energy consumption at individual service stations.

Aimed at using solar energy to power the daytime electrical loads as part of ENOC’s wider innovation and sustainability strategy, we have since announced that all our future service stations will have the PV panel installations on the roofs.

We estimate that more than 23 GWh of solar energy will be generated to power the new stations by 2020, minimising the load on DEWA’s grid and power generating stations.

This project is part of ENOC Group’s continued support to the promotion of energy efficiency and resource management through the enhancement of eco-friendly products and the use 19

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

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ENOC has invested in several alternative energy sources such as powering all future service stations using solar PV panels.

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of cleaner and greener energy saving equipment.

Q. ENOC has recently introduced biodiesel, can you tell me a bit more about this?

In line with the UAE leadership's clear commitment to diversifying its energy sources, ENOC is investing in alternative fuels such as Compressed Natural Gas and Biodiesel5 – a diesel blended with biofuel - to provide cleaner fuels for its customers.

ENOC Group’s Biodiesel5 product was introduced to the UAE market as an advanced alternative green fuel product commonly used for diesel engines. Tested in the UAE, this product is mainly used by companies for their new and existing truck fleet, as well as heavy construction 20

equipment without the need to upgrade the engines and fuel storage facility.

Proven to reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, the product is a clean fuel produced from waste cooking oil collected from the restaurants of Dubai. Driven by renewable resources, Biodiesel5 is an opportunity to reduce the UAE’s domestic consumption of fossil fuels, and contribute towards the region’s responsibility for environmental protection and sustainability. Biodiesel lowers emissions such as carbon dioxide, black smoke and unburnt hydrocarbons, and can be pumped, stored and burned just like petroleum diesel fuel.

Q. In 2016, your sustainability report stated that 25% of your procurement

in energy consuming equipment was green, your goal for 2017 was 30%.

Please can you tell me your strategy?

We are confident of achieving our green procurement targets in 2017 as we had developed a structured approach to integrate green procurement within the ENOC Group, beginning with the identification of a set of equipment/ areas where we ensured minimum ‘green’ specifications.

This included equipment related to air conditioning, lighting, water fixtures, electric motors, vehicles and more.

We also developed standards for this equipment in 2017 mandating minimum green specifications in terms of energy and resource consumption. This document is called the ‘Purchase and Energy Efficiency

Issue 04 | January 2018

Standard’. Moreover, we appointed a dedicated ‘Green Procurement Officer’ in 2017, and set up a committee for ‘Green Procurement’ which monitors the performance every quarter.

Q. What do you see as ENOC’s role in developing and promoting alternative energy sources?

From our experience, energy demand is rising and evolving.

To support these needs, ENOC is looking to expand its capacity, capabilities and offerings in a way that is sustainable, since this is the direction that the Governments of Dubai and the UAE, and indeed governments around the world, are moving towards. ENOC has invested in several alternative energy sources such as

powering all future service stations using solar PV panels. The use of Natural Gas (CNG) which results in fewer pollutant and Greenhouse Gases emissions than traditional fuel, reducing the release of harmful emissions and decreasing air pollution. Also, our new Biodiesel5 product. As one of the largest suppliers to various government entities, we actively participate in many inter-government initiatives such as those overseen by the Dubai Supreme Energy Council, to meet energy, as well as sustainability targets, committed to by the country’s leadership.

At ENOC we deliver world-class sustainable and integrated energy solutions and we do so by striving for excellence in operations, innovation and happiness of our employees, customers

and partners. This is the reason why we remain steadfast in our vision to be an innovative energy partner, delivering sustainable value and industry-leading performance to all our stakeholders.

Q. What is ENOC doing for Earth Hour this year?

As we do every year, ENOC will be taking an active part in Earth Hour by switching off its building and facility lights, and across all service stations, to strengthen awareness of energy use efficiency in the community.

Additionally, all lights and nonessential electric appliances at the ENOC office complex will be switched off during the same period. Doing so in 2017 reduced consumption by a total of 3.4 MWh and 21

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

ENOC has introduced CNG, and Biodiesel5 into the UAE market as a cleaner option Heat Exhaustion among manyfuels. others. than traditional

carbon dioxide emission by 1.7 tonnes. ENOC also rolled out a series of internal activities to promote and encourage employees to participate at Earth Hour.

Q. Why do you think it is so important to support events such as Earth Hour?

Support of events such as Earth Hour are important to ENOC because we strive to part of the global movement to create awareness among the community on the importance of conserving energy As the key energy supplier that fuels Dubai’s growth, we gear our operations 22

to mirror the aspirations of Dubai’s 2021 vision, particularly in its vision to create ‘A Smart & Sustainable City’.

Our activities with communities are extensive and wide-ranging – from education to famine relief, personal wellness to maintaining a ‘green’ economy.

Domestically, our community involvement covers events and campaigns such as blood donations, Al Noor Fun Fair, Clean up the World, My Family Reads, World No Tobacco Day, Challenge Programme, Clean up UAE, Ramadan activity, and Heat Stress and

Reputational and competitive advantage

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

There are 88,000 solar panels being installed in Phase 1 of the distributed solar rooftop project at DP World.

CASE STUDY

Powering business growth DP World has pioneered a rooftop solar project that supplies enough electricity to power a large-scale port operation - and that is only Phase 1

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lobal trade enabler DP World has developed and implemented the region’s largest distributed solar rooftop project, which has been installed not only the roofs of the company’s buildings, but also on corporate carports.

The energy generated from solar panels installed on the carports at the company’s headquarters in Jebel Ali in Dubai can deliver almost 100% of the annual electricity required to power the entire head office. Meanwhile, the wider project will account for more than 30% of the annual electricity required to power all facilities within the Jebel Ali Free Zone, which is host to more than 7000 companies and their offices. The project is being conducted in two phases, with phase one near completion, which currently

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produces 20 megawatts of power. In 2007, DP World on began to develop its own carbon and energy strategy by establishing frameworks and targets, while identifying initiatives that could help reduce its own power usage and positively contribute towards global climate change efforts.

“In 2007, renewables were not very attractive owing to their high costs so we focused on the energy reduction hierarchy. First, this entailed the elimination of unnecessary processes and then we began to apply engineering solutions to existing equipment and infrastructure to integrate new, energy efficient technologies. The next stage was to use operational tools and software that increase efficiencies and finally, we worked on educating our people on the

importance of functioning in an energy efficient manner,” said Nabil Battal, Vice President - Group Health, Safety and Environment, at DP World.

Instead of narrowing the debate to carbon emissions, DP World’s strategy was focused on energy reduction across the board and for the long term. As soon as the company was able to make that mindset change and get employees to start focusing on ‘how much energy do I need to consume to do my business’, it was able to move forward with its sustainability initiatives. New energy savings were realised by investing in new equipment and updating existing equipment, while eliminating energy waste in day-today operations. The resulting energy efficiency improvements continued to be rolled out for three years before their

Issue 04 | January 2018

benefits began to decline, and by five years into the programme, energy savings had plateaued. Savings continued to be seen but they were not nearly at the same scale and at this stage, DP World began to rethink its strategy, according to Battal.

“The business case for renewable energy especially solar technologies became viable when the price of the solar panel dropped. Since China became a manufacturer of solar panels, the prices have dropped almost 80% over the last five years. As soon as that financial line hit the magic sweet-spot, we capitalised on the market situation and were able to say ‘renewables now make commercial sense for us’,” he said.

In 2007, DP World also began calculating the amount of C02 produced in the process of moving one box. The company was at that stage producing approximately 20 kilogrammes of C02 per box move, which is today down to around 15 kilogrammes.

Phase 1 At the inception of Phase 1 of the rooftop solar programme, DP World identified 20 to 25 sites at which to install the solar panels, and these were bundled together to become the Phase 1 Tender.

The combined potential of these sites could yield a minimum power potential of 20mWp.

“The reason we did the tender this way was firstly to capitalise on economies of scale, and secondly, to make the project large enough to attract the attention of international companies and stakeholders,” Battal said.

There is a big difference between developing a solar park, which is a greenfield site and where everything can be designed and implemented from scratch, and a solar rooftop project, which is a brownfield site and where existing structures have been worked around.

Brownfield sites pose very different engineering challenges and investments, and they attract different types of businesses. According to Battal,

“

We could wait for organic growth, but what we like to do is stay ahead of the bell-curve by pushing out innovations as soon as possible.

That also allows us to pursue economies of scale and to have expertise which may not currently be readily available in the market.

“

Nabil Battal, Vice President - Group Health, Safety and Environment at DP World

Nabil Battal, Vice- President, Group Health Safety and Environment at DP World.

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

organisations that are very focused on working on the solar farm will generally stick to operating from solar farm-type projects, and not enter solar rooftop projects, and vice versa because they require different skillsets. Meanwhile, work began on Phase 1 of the project in the third quarter of 2016 with a 22-megawatt contract that involved the installation of 88,000 panels, of which 85% have already been installed. The solar cells used for Phase 1 were imported from Taiwan, as the Middle East did not have solar cell manufacturing capabilities at the time.

“The cold storage facility at DP World’s flagship Jebel Ali port has been fitted with 5,000 rooftop solar panels, while 22 buildings and car parks within the Jebel Ali Freezone and at the Mina Rashid Cruise Terminal have been fitted out too.

All have been built and connected, some are producing live power and some are in the final stages of harmonics testing, where they check the efficiency of the power being generated by a particular building,” Battal said.

To fully understand how much power the project is producing, it can be compared to the entire power usage of DP World’s terminal in London Gateway, which includes both a port and a freezone.

The facility is new, state-of-the-art and provides approximately 2,700 metres of quay space. The power currently being produced through Phase 1 of the solar rooftop project – that is 37GWh per year – is enough to meet the full power requirements of London Gateway for an entire year.

“Through Phase 1, we’ve produced enough electricity to run one of DP World’s top 10 largest terminals in the world. At London Gateway, this includes 14 straddle carriers, eight quay cranes and 32 reefer stations – now imagine that each of these refrigerated boxes needs to work 24/7 and365 days a year on small compressors to cool them. Currently, we 26

produce the energy required to run this massive operation in Dubai through our solar rooftop programme,” Battal said.

DP World is also able to feed back into the city’s electricity grid the excess energy produced during peak daytime sunlight hours – a win-win situation for the end user and the grid provider.

The Shams Dubai programme, which allows commercial and private customers of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) to install solar panels on their property and utilise the solar energy produced to reduce their monthly electricity bill, has facilitated DP World’s solar rooftop programme. Any surplus electricity produced by the solar panels at DP World that cannot be used immediately will be credited by DEWA at the retail rate, further reducing the electricity bill in the next month.

Project challenges The biggest challenge faced by DP World during the design and implementation of the project was the lack of experience and knowledge in the market on facilitating solar powered projects. It was a new concept and relevant regulations had only just been developed in the UAE. There was also a lack of experience in the region, and a lack of contractors who understood, and complete the work.

“In many cases you might have an international solar company wanting to establish itself in Dubai, but the infrastructure just was not there. We had a framework for regulation, but not much support in understanding the financial markets and legal structures, or even regional law firms that understood how to interpret and create the contracts. Once you manage to overcome these hurdles, you’re soon faced with project execution hurdles, which included lack of local experience and resources and needing to identify and import the resources,” noted Battal.

The solar rooftop programme is just Phase 1 of DP World’s solar development.

The young regulatory framework in the UAE to support solar projects such as this meant that DP World was not just working with DEWA on the development of the project, but also with several other government bodies, including the Civil Defence, and Dubai Municipality, which was a learning experience.

“In a lot of cases we would have to go and be part of meetings to talk about the project and discuss with the authorities themselves about how it could work, and should work, and then lend support. If you look at the original process for certifying a photovoltaic (PV) system from DEWA, it is a five-step process under the guidelines.

We facilitated discussions and were part of the development of the new regulatory structure. As a result, Phase 2 should be easier to execute,” Battal noted.

The project is successful and important on two fronts. First, it has introduced fresh impetus for growth in the market and second, it has attracted global

Issue 04 | January 2018

Solar cleaning:

stakeholders to be part of the project, bringing new investments directly into the country.

Phase 2: Phase 1 of the solar rooftop project was the company’s first foray into large-scale renewable projects. The next stage for DP World is to introduce the project in emerging markets, where there is much opportunity to scale the project even further and tailor make it for long term impact. With Dubai, there is a stable power supply, and all the demand that a company would require. However, this is something that is not available in some of the emerging markets that DP World is engaged in. There is often a lack of energy supply and that is an issue that will continue into the future. Currently however, DP World is focusing on rolling out Phase 2 of the rooftop solar project.

“Phase 2 will be carried out over the next three to four years, with potential

for a 35-megawatt peak, so slightly more than Phase 1. We would probably split that between two contractors, so again, in the interest of growing the industry within the region, while costing approximately GBP 140,000. We will later begin to look at the next phases of the project’s growth, especially across our global portfolio,” Battal noted. “We could wait for organic growth, but we prefer to stay ahead of the bell-curve by pioneering change in our industry with innovative solutions. This also allows us to pursue economies of scale and to gain expertise in a field before others in the market.”

Since launching the solar rooftop programme, DP World has been approached by approximately 30 businesses that would like to replicate the programme at their own offices and has already begun exploring opportunities with several stakeholders.

“In pioneering the solar rooftop programme, we have attracted further

“Solar panel manufacturers make an allowance for a one per cent degradation over 20 years. By year 20 the panel should be at 80% efficiency. When we are talking about heat, dust and how the panels operate in the Middle East, as compared to Europe, we do have an issue with dust and that is something that needs to be addressed, at the same time, let’s not forget solar exposure in the Middle East is better than in other countries due to lack of rainfall. Therefore, while we have more dust, we also have more sun.

There is an equilibrium effect that is occurring. Some of the dust may mitigate the heat coming through the panels because, of course, these panels are of course going through 50+ degree Celsius heat and they retain that heat. Is there a readily available solution for solar panel cleaning? No there is not, but there is a lot of people looking at robots and how they can be integrated into cleaning the panels. You can have monitoring software that tracks the performance of the panel, so rather than just setting up a cleaning regime, you look at the performance of the panels and when performance degrades to a certain level, then it sends a message out saying we need to clean. It is a smarter way of doing it rather than a regulated schedule.

When a sandstorm comes through we can clean straight away.

Incorporating innovation and smart technology in the way we do things instead of having a set regime.”

Source: Nabil Battal, Vice President - Group Health, Safety and Environment at DP World

investments into the local economy with a number of solar cell providers, installers and manufacturers coming and setting up their businesses in Dubai. Some have even expanded into the Middle East and Africa region, fueling the future scope of generating renewable energy in this part of the world, while enabling trade,” Battal said.

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

FEATURE

Energy efficiency and potential national savings in the UAE A stepping stone for assessing the full market size of energy efficiency enhancement savings in the country

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he UAE is classified as a high-income developing country, depending highly on hydrocarbon products supporting its economical accomplishments. During 2013, the UAE’s oil and gas activities accounted for 45% of its $383 Billion GDP, standing at $42K per capita. Given the country’s strong economic activities, its population has been undergoing a continuous increase at a 7.7% annual growth rate, accumulating a total of 9.35 million people in 2014.

Moreover, the country has historically installed a highly subsidised electricity tariff structure, which has led to high electricity consumption, mainly driven by cheap tariffs. In addition, and in parallel to the country’s economic and population growth, electricity consumption is expected to grow by 7-10% annually in the period 2014-2020, at 2,425 GWh/yr.

To meet the country’s electricity demand, the UAE depends 98% on natural gas (NG) for its power generation. Despite the country’s abundant NG resources, the UAE began importing gas to meet the NG supply-demand deficit. In addition, the UAE’s energy balance highlights the prominent role fossil fuels play in meeting

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the country’s internal demand, as well as the high level of fossil fuel exports that generate wealth for the country.

Given the heavy reliance on NG, the UAE is looking to decrease its dependence on NG and increase its energy security. Therefore, the UAE started a number of initiatives towards increasing its energy security and diversifying its energy profile through various projects such as renewables and nuclear. Nevertheless, the country is still expected to face challenges in meeting its growing demand and transitioning to higher efficiency technologies along the electricity value chain.

In our research, we have assessed the potential national wealth savings to the UAE government across the electricity value chain, using a number of interventions in oil and gas extraction, power generation, and electricity end-use.

The in-house model devised calculated national wealth savings according to different types, which include fossil fuel subsidy savings (from natural gas and diesel); electricity tariff subsidy savings; and the opportunity cost savings from the potential sale of natural gas and diesel abroad. The model allows for modification

of an array of prices reflecting the complex fossil fuel procurement and subsidy dynamics of the country. Furthermore, the model allows for different penetration rates per intervention across the electricity value chain, to reflect various adoption scenarios.

The interventions in oil and gas extraction include the installment of natural gas engines as an alternative to flaring associated gases at onshore and offshore oil rigs, along with the installment of waste heat to power systems at oil refineries.

For power generation, three efficiency enhancement scenarios were explored of +1%, +2% and +3% to the overall power plant performance. While the power plants were treated as a black box, interventions within power plants that could lead to such efficiency enhancements were explored, such as enhancements to the natural gas turbines (through technologies such as advanced gas path (AGP)) and the optimisation of power-plant processes through the integration of hardware and software (industrial internet).

For end-use, multiple interventions were explored that were benchmarked to a business-as-usual scenario, including a

Issue 04 | January 2018

combination of technical and behavioural aspects. The interventions generally fall under the categories of cooling/ heating and lighting. They are applied across the different building types in the

country and at a city level, reflecting the different dynamics per Emirate. Cooling/ heating includes changes to the wall insulation values, set point temperature, and the efficiency value of chillers and

air conditioners (COP value). Lighting includes the assessment of new halogen lighting, compact fluorescent lighting (CFL), and Light Emitting Diodes (LED), all benchmarked to the business-as-usual

Figure 1: Efficiency enhancement interventions investigated along the UAE energy value chain

Resources (Domestic /Imported)

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Conversion Technologies

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Final Energy Carrier

EU

End-use

Oil Extraction Coal Imports (R1, R2)

Gas Extraction (R2)

Natural Gas

NG Simple Cycle PP

(CT1)

NG Steam Turbine PP

(R1, R2)

Coal/ bio-mass

NG Combined Cycle PP (R1, R2)

(EU2, EU3, EU4)

Lighting & appliances

Nuclear PP

Wind

Grid-Connected Wind Power

Solar

Bio-mass

(EU1)

NSEA

MSW based PP

Nuclear

Equipment & machinery Petrochemical industry Power generation (off-grid) Cooling & Heating

Cooking Cooking &heating

Electricity

(EU2, EU3, EU4)

Lighting & appliances

(EU1)

Electricity Equipment & machines Cooling (greenhouses) Irrigation & pumps

SEA

RESIDENTIAL/ COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURAL

Bio-mass

Coal PP

INDUSTRIAL

Gas Imports

Rail Trucks/cars/buses Ships/freights Planes/jets

Petroleum & derivatives

Oil Fired Gas Turbines

TRANSPORTATION

NSEA

TECHNOLOGY INTERVENTIONS THROUGHOUT ELECTRICITY VALUE CHAIN

Energy Resource R1 : Natural Gas Engines R2: Waste Heat Power

End-Use

Power Generation CT1: Increased power plant efficiency

EU1: EU2: EU3: EU4:

Lighting retrofits Wall insulation retrofits Temperature set point Cooling retrofits

LEGEND

SEA: Stationary Energy Application NSEA: Non-Stationary Energy Application NG: Natural Gas MSW: Municipal Solid Waste PP: Power Plant

29

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

scenario of incandescent lighting. A summary of considered interventions is depicted in Figure 1 (pg. 29).

Based on the findings from the developed model and scenario analysis carried out, it is clear the absolute national wealth savings from efficiency enhancements are highly dependent on the complex dynamics of natural gas and diesel procurement, along with the associated costs. However, the key findings of this preliminary work, based on the array of assumptions made, suggest the highest savings that can be potentially reaped are in electricity end-use, followed by oil and gas and power generation – a relationship that is relatively independent from changes in energy costs or subsidies.

The electricity end-use market size for potential savings revealed high annual savings, particularly from higher cooling efficiencies (COP values), and from increasing the set point temperature from 22°C to 23/24°C as well as the adoption of CFL/LED lighting. Furthermore, based on the use of marginal abatement cost curves (MACC) developed for each intervention, we were able to asses which interventions end-users/customers would see a positive return on investment from.

Interventions with a negative return on investment for customers (indicating that the market would not encourage such an adoption) could potentially be incentivised by the government through various policy instruments.

Following electricity end-use, savings from interventions in the oil and gas sector were found to be the most significant, particularly from waste heat to power at the country’s oil refineries. Such findings are unsurprising, given the scale of the oil and gas industry in the country and the huge volumes of crude oil processed on a daily basis. Power generation saw the least national wealth savings, due to marginal opportunities for efficiency enhancement hindering natural gas savings.

30

DR. Sameh El Khatib, Director of Energy and Power Management, ICAD

Marouane Temimi, Associate Professor - Water & Environmental Engineering Program Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY ENERGY

CASE STUDY

Hello sunshine!

The Safaqat programme is designed to connect homes to solar power through crowdsourcing

Safaqat is the UAEs first website for residential solar projects, in collaboration with the Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence, allowing home owners to leverage the economic efficiency of crowdsourcing

S

afaqat is Dubai Carbon’s online platform, designed to provide solar panels and energy saving equipment to both home and commercial customers at a better price point than is currently available in the market. The platform, launched in 2017, currently features a home solar package of 4.5kW. The home package starts at a competitive price for a standard package, although these can be custom built, if the home design does not support a standard 32

panel. The solar kits can fit almost all of the villas that are in Dubai. However, for homes larger than around four bedrooms, or if the roof is not able to fit the panel, the solar packages will need to be custommade. In some cases, if there is a lot of equipment on the roof, such as airconditioning units, and water containers for example, then a platform can be built to elevate the solar panel above the equipment. This not only provides a safe spot for your solar panel, but also creates shade for your equipment.

“Safaqat is a facilitation platform for bringing or scaling up renewable energy technologies to the market. The idea initially is to be focused on solar, and that is what we are doing right now. We have come up with a small rooftop solar kit which has a predefined capacity of 4.5kW, which is identical to what we do in Hatta.

It is going to be a standardised kit and through Safaqat we try to promote solar to the consumer,” said Thomas Bosse, Head of Programmes at Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence.

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

Issue 04 | January 2018

“

The goal of

the solar platform

To purchase a home solar kit, the customer must contact Safaqat directly, the benefit of this is also that a homeowner does not have to go out and get a quote, and find contractors that are experienced in home solar installations - they simply have to fill in their details on the website.

These details include their location, Ejari details, and their personal details, and Safaqat can then tell the customer how much they can save on their DEWA bill and how long it takes for them to get back their investment.

“For a 4.5kW kit, a customer will save yearly a considerable amount on their DEWA bill. In six years, they will get back their money and these systems can operate for at least 20 to 25 years,” said Mourad Dahbi, Project Manager at Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence.

The solar panels can also be removed and re-installed elsewhere, so if the customer is renting, and wants to have solar, the renter can install the panel at the villa and then move it when they leave.

However, the best option is to install it and leave it in situ.

Once the solar panel is connected, the owner is always connected to the grid, so the home always has electricity, whether the solar panel fulfils all of the electricity

“a facilitation Safaqat is

platform for bringing or scaling up

renewable energy technologies to

“

The platform is a B2C platform rather than just approaching businesses. The idea behind this in the long-run is to not only look into solar, but to have all types of green technology products, which can be verified for their efficiency and real economic savings, promoted through this unique platform.

The Safqat platform also uses bulkbuying to reduce the cost of the products they promote, and a deal is ‘on’ once enough kits have been sold, for example.

“It doesn’t really make sense when we request a solar rooftop kit, it makes sense if you have 10 or 50, so the idea is to pull them together and then once we have this pool we can get the contract up and begin installation. We are now in a situation where we have stocks, so we don’t need to order it by one-by-one. We will have 40 kits by the end of next month and then we can also act a little quicker. To get the price down we buy in quantities, it doesn’t make sense to have one system. If you look at buying higher bulk, then the cost is more attractive to end users,” said Bosse.

the consumer market.

Thomas Bosse, Head of Programmes at Dubai Carbon requirements or not. The solar panel directly feeds the appliances in the home, if there is any extra energy, this will be fed back into the DEWA grid, and if the home consumer more energy than it produces, it will draw extra energy from the grid.

The idea of buildings creating their own

is to promote sustainable products and have

“

the people of the UAE save energy.

Mourad Dahbi, Project Manager at Dubai Carbon 32

Safaqat is a facilitation platform for bringing solar technologies to market

33

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY ENERGY

electricity and feeding it back into the grid can also be applied to commercial units, which can develop their own solar panels and feed and excess energy back to DEWA through their Shams programme. The size of a warehouse roof could produce a lot of energy through solar panels on the roof, and for a factory that has a huge consumption, there can also be huge production.

“The goal of the solar platform is to promote sustainable products and have the people of the UAE save energy,” said Dahbi.

Cleaning the panels The Bit.b controller that you can buy off the Safaqat site acts as receiver for the home solar system that monitors the solar system, and through an app on a phone or computer tells the end-user how much energy they are producing. With that device, they can even do preventative maintenance.

If the app shows that your system is producing less energy than expected, it means something could be covering the cells, in the UAE, this might be dust reducing the systems productivity. If this happens, there are specialist solar panel cleaning companies that will come and clean the panels.

A solar cleaning contract varies in price on a case-by-case basis for a homeowner, it is around $20 o $30 per kW per year.

Linking with DEWA The Hatta project was an initiative launched and sponsored by DEWA, all of the houses in the project are owned by local UAE families. DEWA partnered with the Safaqat project to turn 420 villas in Hatta to solar generation.

“We are just over halfway into the project currently. We are using the same solar kit that is available on the Safaqat website,” stated Dahbi.

34 32

Safaqat is also linked to Shams Dubai, another initiative by DEWA, if a homeowner puts solar on their rooftop, they generate electricity, this electricity generated by the homeowner, goes back to the DEWA grid. The homeowner has a meter where they can check how many kW of energy have produced, and that is then deducted from the energy consumed by the homeowner by DEWA. For example, if a homeowner consumes 10kW and produces 2kW, their bill will be for 8kW. “If they can have a production of electricity from green energy, DEWA will produce less energy using fossil fuels, so the goal is to get soar on every rooftop and reduce the number of hydrocarbons being consumed by our power providers,” said DCCE’s Dahbi.

In line with this goal, in January 2012, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al

Maktoum launched the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the independent power producer model.

The project supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to transform Dubai into an international hub for clean energy and green economy, by providing seven per cent of Dubai’s total power output from clean resources by 2020, 25% by 2030, and 75% by 2050. With the current developments in solar power, such as Tesla introducing solar roof tiles, the development of flexible solar panels that move like paper, and the invention of transparent panels that can replace glass means that in a few years solar technology is likely to be far superior to what we see today, and entirely powering a home could be much easier.

Facts about the DEWA Shams Programme •

This programme allows DEWA customers to install solar panels on their property, and utilise the produced solar energy to reduce their monthly electricity bill.

•

Any surplus electricity that can not be used immediately will be credited

by DEWA at the retail rate, further reducing the electricity bill in the next month.

•

Solar panels can be installed on the roof, parking shades or on the ground, depending on available space and orientation.

•

For customers with large and stable loads (e.g. factories) it is possible to offset over 90% of DEWA electricity consumption with solar energy, thereby saving hundreds of thousands of dirhams per year.

•

To maximise savings per kWh, many customers with significant air conditioning loads chose to cover around 80% of their winter electricity consumption, as this means that every kWh from solar saves kWs in DEWA’s most expensive red tariff slab.

The Sustainabilist The UAE has a nationwide strategy of reaching 50% clean energy by 2050, solar power features heavily in its plans and is expected to account for 25% of the generation mix once a 5GW solar park is fully commissioned in 2030.

Join in!

The UAE has a nationwide strategy of reaching 50% clean energy by 2050, solar power features heavily in its plans and is expected to account for 25% of the generation mix once a 5GW solar park is fully commissioned in 2030.

MANUFACTURING SUSTAINABILITY Sustainable production, are you a part of it?

In this issue, we will showcase companies of all sizes that have incorporated sustainable manufacturing processes as part of their corporate DNA.

GET IN TOUCH AT FOMO@THESUSTAINABILIST.AE

WWW.THESUSTAINABILIST.AE

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

INTERVIEW

Solar revolution Noura Ahmed Alnaqbi, Manager of Regulation for Business Development & Excellence at DEWA discusses the Shams project and how it benefits everyone from businesses to individual consumers

Q. What is Shams Dubai?

Shams Dubai is a smart initiative launched

by DEWA to support the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the smartest and most sustainable city in the world. It supports diversifying the energy mix by promoting the use of clean and renewable energy sources to build a sustainable future for the Emirate and also reduction of the demand. Launching the initiative implements the Executive Council Resolution number 46 of 2014, issued

by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, to regulate the 36

connection of solar power to Dubai’s distribution grid. Through Shams Dubai, household and building owners are encouraged to install solar panels to generate electricity for their own use on site, while remaining connected to DEWA’s grid at the same time. The electricity that is being generated from the solar system is used on site and the surplus is exported to DEWA’s network.

Q. How does it work?

Shams Dubai is a regulatory and technical framework and programme to enable solar power to be distributed across Dubai. Shams Dubai has set the technical standards, processes and procedures and built the required solar power capabilities to implement solar projects

within the Emirate of Dubai. DEWA has taken the lead to ensure all the elements for a successful implementation is taken into consideration. This includes the registration and training of the solar consultants and contractors, the registration of the solar products in compliance to DEWA’s technical standards, and the process for connection of these solar projects to the distribution network of DEWA. Q. How do people join in/take part?

People who are interested to join should be first a customer of DEWA, and a resident of Dubai, or owner of a building or premises that consumes electricity. The customer will have to only take one step and reach out and hire an enrolled solar

Issue 04 | January 2018

consultant or contractor under the Shams Dubai initiative. They will advise the best possible solution for the solar system and carry out with the next steps for the implementation of this project.

DEWA has also launched an innovative tool, the Shams Dubai Calculator, to help customers understand and learn about the benefits and potential of installing a solar system within their premises. The results are an estimate and an exact feasibility study should be carried out by the hired consultant or contractor.

Q. What are the benefits of installing solar panels for home and business users?

Installing solar panels has several benefits, it supports Dubai’s economy and ensures

Q. What are the incentives for home/ business users to install solar?

Shams Dubai is implementing a net metering scheme, which means that any electricity that is being produced through the solar system is consumed locally.

If more electricity is produced than consumed, then this surplus is fed back to DEWA distribution network. DEWA will offset the customer’s bill for any surplus energy exported into the grid against any future consumption of electricity.

The incentive is therefore the monthly savings on the bill.

Q. What is the process to apply for and install the solar systems?

After After the customer invests and assigns his needed solar consultant or contractor for the solar system, the consultant/contractor will carry on with the connection process that goes through

“DEWA has also

launched an innovative tool, the Shams Dubai Calculator, to help customers understand and learn about the benefits and potential of installing a solar system within their premises.

“

its sustainable future. Solar power is a clean form of energy that doesn’t generate pollution or any harmful greenhouse gas emissions. It basically reduces the customer’s carbon footprint and protects the environment. Moreover, customers with solar systems produce their own electricity for their own consumption with excess energy being fed back to the grid, this reduces their demand for electricity from DEWA, and reduces their electricity bill over the lifetime of the system, which can go 25 years and beyond with good maintenance. Customers only have to bear the initial investment costs and ensure their systems are well maintained for better production. Due to the abovementioned benefits that comes with the solar system, the buildings or premises that has such solar systems will increase its value in the market compared to similar buildings without solar systems. In fact, tenants will enjoy lower electricity bills due to it being generated locally from the solar system.

Noura Ahmed Alnaqbi, Manager Regulation, Business Development & Excellence at DEWA

four stages, No-Objection Certificate (NOC), design approval, inspection and connection, and lastly generation and billing. The NOC stage is the initial approval from DEWA for the initial sizing and capacity of the solar system. The design approval stage is the complete, and thorough technical review of the solar system project, which includes the site plans, system design plans, and details of the proposed equipment.DEWA reviews the design 37

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

and ensures that it complies with its regulations and technical standards, and then approves it. The inspection and connection stage is the stage when the contactor completes the installation of the solar system, and obtains the structural and mechanical approvals from the building authority, such as Dubai Municipality. The contractor submits a request to DEWA to inspect the electrical works of the system, and ensure that it is compliant with DEWA technical standards. Once DEWA has done this, connects the system to its distribution grid and installs the smart meter. The final stage is generation. The customer will then benefit from the solar system by receiving the monthly electricity bills that shows the reduced demand.

Q. Where do you source the solar panels from? Do you have preferred suppliers?

Under Shams Dubai, DEWA has set a registration portal for solar equipment manufacturers to submit their products solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, solar invertors and interphase protection devices. Manufacturers register their products that are compliant to DEWA’s identified technical standards and certifications requirements. You can find a list of these registered products on DEWA’s website in the Shams Dubai section.

Q. How is Shams Dubai helping Dubai towards its sustainability goals?

Shams Dubai supports the implementation of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which requires renewable and clean energy sources to contribute seven per cent by 2020, 15% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. The launch of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the first milestone in the path to achieving this vision, and the generation of solar power. Shams Dubai will enable Dubai’s citizens, businesses 38

and industries to also contribute to this vision and make it a reality.

Shams Dubai is the eighth programme under the Demand Side Management Strategy to reduce demand by 30% by 2030. Using solar power will reduce our reliance on traditional sources of energy. It is a clean and renewable source of energy that produces no harmful emissions. This will contribute to the protection of the environment, foster economic and social growth in Dubai, and ensure the sustainability for generations to come.

Q. What has the uptake of home and business solar panel installation been like so far?

As of the end of January 2018, about 40MW have been installed, with solar systems in 613 buildings connected to DEWA’s grid. These figures keep on increasing and we know that there are more projects in the pipeline at different stages and soon they will be completed.

Noura Ahmed Alnaqbi said that installing solar panels supports Dubai’s economy.

Q. Is there anything else you want to add?

I would to say that our leadership through the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has placed great importance on the smart and sustainable development of Dubai. This has been translated into various initiatives and projects to support this vision.

The future transformation of the Emirate lies not only in the efforts of the government, but also Dubai’s citizens and residents who play a very important role in making this vision a reality.

Shams Dubai is not only a government initiative but also an initiative for the people of Dubai, who can take action to install solar systems within their premises and support the contribution of clean energy to the grid and reduce demand.

Customers are no longer just consumers of electricity, but also producers of clean energy and key contributors to transforming Dubai into a smart and sustainable city, for today and for generations to come.

AN IZDIHAR FREE ZONE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM PARTNER ORGANIZATION

The World FZO has partnered with Dubai Carbon to create the world's first Green Zone certification program to help free zones measure their progress and success in the areas of sustainability, security, environment, and regulations. Through our partnerships with multilateral organizations and leading international consulting firms, we help guide your efforts and reward your achievements.

T o r e c e i ve i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e  G r e e n Z o n e c e r t i f i c a t i o n please email:knowledge@worldfzo.org

To learn more about the GREEN ZONE certification, IZDIHAR program or to partner with World FZO visit us at:

4TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 30 APRIL & 1 MAY 2018 | GRAND HYATT HOTEL DUBAI

www.AICE2018.com

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

SPECIAL REPORT

Pioneering in alternative energy sources The first solar-powered service station debuts in the UAE

R

enewable energy technologies, especially solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, have made significant advancements over the past few years, paving the way for companies to reduce their environmental impact. ENOC keeps abreast major technological developments that can be further utilised to drive energy savings, reduce carbon emissions and contribute

to a sustainable future for the UAE. Solar PV energy generation is one area that has surged ahead in leaps and bounds, paving the path for ENOC to seize the opportunity to use this technology in its retail business. Retail service stations operate for extended hours and use electricity primarily for air conditioning, refrigeration and lighting, particularly. ENOC’s Dubai Internet City service station operates

“this pilot solar

The success of

powered service station paves the way for all the planned new

Did you know? h systems use cells to convert sunlight into electricity. The PV cell consists of one or two layers of a semi-conducting material, which is usually silicon.

When light shines on the cell it creates an electric field across the layers, causing electricity to flow. The greater the intensity of light the greater the corresponding flow of electricity. PV solar system’s generation potential is referred to as kilowatt peak (kWp), which is the maximum amount of power the system can generate in optimum conditions.

40

service stations to

“

FACT

make the move to solar PV.

Issue 04 | January 2018

The first solar-powered service station debuts in the UAE resulting in: 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With the rebuild of the station, the energy team from ENOC’s Retail business launched a solar PV panel pilot project to reduce grid electricity consumption in alignment with the UAE’s Energy Plan 2050 to use renewable energy sources to reduce harmful emissions.

The station reopened in April 2017, with a direct, grid-connected solar PV system installed. Solar PV panels are mounted on the station’s canopy, with a DC/AC inverter system and metering unit in the electricity control room, and distribution boards.

The system is expected to generate approximately 100 kW of power during the daytime, enough to power the entire convenience store building. The solar PV panels can actually generate 30% more energy than the average required to run the station.

What this means is that on a clear sunny day, 600 kWh to 700 kWh of energy can be generated, with excess power of approximately 240 kWh, which can be transmitted, back to the DEWA grid. Solar energy will go un-tapped without these solar PV panels and hence all the generated

energy can be considered as saved energy. This initiative contributes to significant cost reduction in the service station’s electricity bills and a reduced dependence on fuel-based grid power, helping reduce related carbon and pollutant emissions.

Annual energy savings are anticipated at 190,000 kWh, with a corresponding cost saving of AED 85,500 each year.

ENOC plans to increase its service station network by 40% between 2016 and 2020. The success of this pilot solar powered service station paves the way for all of the planned new service stations to make the move to solar PV. Generating overall savings of more than 50% in energy consumption at individual service stations is a significant achievement for the ENOC Retail division.

It is not just about energy savings; tapping into technological innovation fits with ENOC’s vision to lead the industry from the forefront and embrace innovation that enhances business efficiency, supporting the vision of a clean, green future for the entire country.

600 kWh

produced on a sunny day

190,000 kWh of annual energy savings

30%

more clean energy than the energy required

AED 85,000 of annual cost savings

240 kWh can be transmitted back to DEWA grid

41

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

INTERVIEW

Powering the nation Loay Dajani, Lead Division Manager.

Electrification Products. ABB Middle East & Africa discusses the company’s role in the Hatta Villa solar power project in which 640 villas are being connected to solar power under DEWA’s Shams programme

Why was ABB chosen for the project?

With more than four decades of experience in helping utilities, 42

“

We practice what we preach by having installed solar power at our facility in Al Quoz, which is one of the largest privately owned solar installation in the region.

Loay Dajani, Lead Division Manager Middle East & Africa

“

What is ABB’s role in the Hatta solar project?

ABB has supplied 600 single phase string inverters to reliably harness the power of the sun for 640 villas for UAE Nationals that have been constructed in Hatta.

This supports the Hatta Comprehensive Development Plan, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The project is part of the Shams Dubai initiative, which encourages building owners to install solar panels on their rooftops to generate electricity from solar power, and link it to the DEWA network.

The inverters supplied by ABB are the UNO-DM – 4.0 integrated with the Aurora Vision software, which is ABB’s remote monitoring solution for the inverters.

Aurora Vision helps installers with easy integration and allows home owners access real-time data on how much energy has been harvested. It’s a cloud based solution, available through a web browser user interface to the PV plant data, which provides highly interactive, real-time access to key performance and operations metrics to help plant management optimise decisions.

Issue 04 | January 2018

industries, transport and infrastructure from across the world in harnessing solar power, ABB is a well-known brand name in solar power products and solutions globally. The solar market has changed in recent years and solar applications are becoming increasingly digital.

The high penetration of renewable energy in some areas of the world, along with the continuously growing demand of a reliable energy supply in others are requiring solar inverters to be more intelligent and easily integrated with complex and smart environments in order to achieve the set target in both selfconsumption and power generation.

In modern residential installations, in the era of the smart home vision, the solar inverter is part of a complex system where many different devices communicate with each other over a common communication bus. In addition, this smart system is connected to a cloud-based platform via the internet for monitoring and managing purposes.

What do ABB’s inverters bring to the table that others do not?

With wireless access and an easy-touse embedded web user interface, ABB inverters inherently bring a lot of value to both the end users as well as the installers.

End-users can view real time performance of their solar power installation, and installers can monitor the performance and suggest improvement actions without having to visit the site - which in a residential area, is a huge benefit.

The inverters are suitable for worldwide applications in compliance with regulatory norms and needs of the utilities. For installers, too there are benefits as the inverters comes with easy commissioning capability and are futureproof with embedded connectivity for smart building and smart grid integration.

The compactness of our inverters are handy as they occupy minimal space in the whole installation. Finally, our engineers with their vast industry and technical experience are available to support 24/7.

These reasons put ABB well ahead of the other players.

How does the inverters internet connectivity work and what benefits does it bring?

ABB solar inverters can be connected to different monitoring and control systems via a selection of fieldbus and interface adapters. This offering is complemented with a series of data loggers and controllers as well as with string monitoring junction boxes and environmental sensors.

The Aurora Vision Plant Management Platform completes the offering by enabling remote monitoring and analysis of system status, performance and energy production and assisting the customer in managing his plants. When the world is moving with increased internet connectivity, the benefit of integrating electrical equipment like inverters makes them future proof for further technical integrations.

Hatta is considered a relatively remote location as majority of utility providers and installers are located in Dubai. To provide quick response or recommendation, a remote monitoring system plays a vital role.

Residents of the Hatta project will welcome remote monitoring as they don’t have to take time off to get a service engineer to assess the problem and their privacy is also not compromised.

The web connectivity also acts as a virtual measurement device providing the cost benefit to users and utilities to avoid investment in an actual hardware to monitor the output.

Is ABB involved in any other solar

projects in the region currently, what are they?

ABB has been leading solar technology in the Middle East, with proven cases of helping utilities and infrastructure customers integrate solar power to the grid. Sustainable city in Dubai, which is one of the largest cluster of solar powered houses, uses ABB technology.

On a utility scale, ABB has been providing solutions to the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (MBR Solar Park) - the largest single-site solar park in the world, based on the Independent Power Producer model. ABB is fully supportive of Dubai Government’s Shams initiative helping citizens to integrate grid connected Solar Power.

We practice what we preach by having installed solar power at our facility in Al Quoz, which is one of the largest privately owned solar installation in the region.

ABB has also supported solar installations in both industrial and utility scale in Jordan to help meet Jordan’s energy 2020 vision.

What is the lifecycle and maintenance schedule of the invertors?

At ABB, superior quality of our products is the bedrock of our organisation. We make products that require minimal intervention for maintenance and maintain maximum uptime of the system.

With a protection rating of IP65, ABB inverters are built to withstand harsh environmental conditions, typical of this region.

The inverters are equipped with a natural cooling protecting system to help with heat dissipation.

As manufacturers, we recommend end-users to check the system once in six months, as such, as they should with any other electrical equipment; however, there is no prescribed maintenance schedule for the inverters.

43

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

INTERVIEW

The energy mix revolution The Sustainabilist spoke to Dr Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar about the future of solar

A

s a veteran of PV solar, I have followed and participated in the development, ups and downs of this industry.

Energy is a traditional industry, in such an industry, the growth of PV solar and the impact of this growth are phenomenal.

When Canadian Solar was established, the global annual PV installation was less than 200 MW and module price more than $6/W, last year in comparison we saw the global PV installation crossing the 100GW mark.

This is amazing development and the vision from my early days has become reality in less then two decades.

Dr Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar

44

The future of solar We have seen the beginnings of solar and the industry now, the scale has been increased about 100 times, productivity increased more than 10 times, and module price reduced to less than 10%. As a result,

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

Lower costs The price per Watt has come down because society and governments one-byone have started to put their resources towards alternative energy sources, and if one country makes a policy, others follow.

When enough societies, people, and governments are doing solar, it comes to a point that the scale of the solar industry is big enough to sustain itself.

In the UAE you have very flat land, so it is easy to install solar, so it is cheap compared to 2008.

The efficiency for a solar module has also increased, and today one module can produce much more energy. Rather than 46

burning oil for electricity here, the UAE is looking at saving oil and using renewables to create energy.

The oil price crash hurt the solar industry because we have to be even cheaper – energy is energy, there is

“

We will see costs going down and prices going down, and solar becoming more economic. It will be more and more competitive compared with conventional power sources.

“

cost of solar energy reaches parity with grid-power in most countries, and solar is the cheapest energy in sun-shining countries.

We will see costs going down and prices going down, and solar becoming more economic. It will be more and more competitive compared with conventional power sources.

Having the best irradiation, solar energy PV is the gift of nature for the Middle East. Without the sophistication of traditional electric power system, you are less burdened to build a greener and more sustainable, solar based energy system.

Especially in the UAE, PV solar can costs less than fossil fuel, and is economically a viable substitute for unreliable gridpower. Off-grid solar with storage costs much less than building up the traditional electric power system, and is far more reliable. PV solar is the natural choice of modern energy for countries in this region. By latest 2022/3 solar will be able to reach grid parity. I think most parts of the world will cover the energy requirements of more than 50% of the population, maybe even 70% to 80% of the population, because solar electricity can be cheaper than any other energy source.

Dr Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar dirty energy, there is clean energy, but sometimes pressure helps. It compels us. Competition and pressure helps us develop better technologies, it might help to drive more R&D. I can’t say the oil price benefitted the energy industry, but a higher price will make our life easier.

A lower price gives us higher pressure and makes us work harder. When people see more and more solar they ask fewer questions and sales costs fall. In the past, it could take 100 phone calls to generate one meeting and one solar project sale, but today, solar has become a hot topic.

The new energy mix The residential segment for solar is important and is the perfect solution for home energy usage. Your electricity is generated and consumed in one place, without any transmission loss and you also don’t have to convert it into AC and high voltage. In order to further encourage home owners to install solar on their roof, regulations and laws need to be clear. For example here in the UAE, the electricity price is still heavily subsidised, which means that people do not see the real cost of electricity. If you lift this veil and are able to compare fossil-generated electricity with renewable energy, more people would be willing to consider putting a solar panel on their roof. The trend has already started and also the shift of mentality, particularly with the 2030 vision of the UAE. If you show people the real cost of energy, then people will look at alternatives. It is not just the physical cost that is important, it is also the cost of burning hydrocarbons on the environment.

Once thousands and thousands of homes start to adopt solar, and they adopt storage at the same time, then we will see a totally different energy structure. Every home will become a generation centre.

That is very interesting and I think this is where a new apocalypse will happen.

These days people have tried power sharing, bicycle sharing, all of these great sharing economy concepts, and I think give it another five years, energy sharing will also be interesting.

These days we need to find a new driver, a new demand in order to boost the economy. I think this will be a strong drive for the new economy, I see the merge of clean energy with today’s big data and internet technology.

We will see a totally different energy structure.

Leader in the Energy Transition We’ve been the GCC’s leading energy partner for 30 years, offering expert solutions in the field of low-carbon energy and transformational energy services.

With our customers, we forge ahead together in building a sustainable future for the region.

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

COMMENTARY

Working together for low-carbon prosperity

Technology is reshaping the energy sector and ENGIE’s commitment is to develop clean and efficient solutions for all

T

he month of February will see the World Government Summit in Dubai bring together leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss pathways to sustainable leadership and solutions to improve the lives of citizens worldwide. The UN’s Sustainable Development a (SDG) are at the heart of these discussions and, for two consecutive years, have had their own platform at the Summit - ‘SDGs in Action’ – organised by the UAE to discuss their global implementation.

As a global leading energy company and a responsible investor, ENGIE is highly committed to SDG 7, which is about ensuring access to affordable, reliable and clean energy for all.

“SDG 7 is very much in line with ENGIE’s priority to push forward a new strategic plan centered on the idea that the future of energy will be decarbonised, decentralised and digital. That idea also drives our regional strategy, which focuses on renewable energies, gas and energy efficiency solutions, which are priorities for regional governments as well. Our acquisition of 40% of leading district cooling provider Tabreed in 2017 is an excellent example of ENGIE’s clean energy ambitions for the region,” stated Florence Fontani, EVP Strategy, Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility for ENGIE in the Middle

48

East, South & Central Asia and Turkey.

“ENGIE has aligned a number of its global KPI’s with the SDG’s to drive its green growth strategy. Furthermore, they drive our actions as a responsible investor. I very much agree with H.E. Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairwoman of the UAE National Committee on SDGs, who said that the SDG’s need to serve as a guiding path for development to ensure a brighter future for all and that we have to collaborate to give hope to communities where suffering prevails.”

Already in 2011, ENGIE created an impact investment fund, ‘Rassembleurs d’Energies’ (RdE), with a global mission to help create access to clean energy for all. The Fund invests in social enterprises who market decentralised energy solutions with high social impact and a significant potential for scalability. And with success!

With 18 investments on four continents in different types of technologies (incl. micro-grids, solar home systems, clean cooking and energy efficiency), ENGIE RdE today provides affordable clean energy solutions to more than two million people worldwide!

Laure Vincotte, Managing Director of ENGIE RdE, explained: “As impact investors, our investment criteria include financial return. This contributes to the

Issue 04 | January 2018

“

I believe we have many reasons to be optimistic about the future of affordable, reliable and clean energy solutions.

“

Florence Fontani, EVP Strategy, Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility Middle East, South & Central Asia and Turkey viability of the model and enables us to re-invest our proceeds to support other enterprises. Moreover, the support we provide to the social enterprises goes far beyond a mere financial investment. Our mission through Board memberships is to help them improve governance and scale up their business sustainably.”

“We work closely with ENGIE RdE,” said Fontani. “For obvious reasons, the Fund has mainly been active in India for our region, via four different companies in both Solar Home Systems and MicroMini Grids, serving 320,000 people!

However, given the model – decentralised, innovative and empowering – we believe that RdE could also give leverage to local innovators in the GCC. And so, we’re exploring a.o. the potential of

decentralised solar desalination for irrigation purposes in local agriculture with regional start-ups.”

This approach is also in line with ENGIE’s global comprehensive policy of investment, incubation and interaction with local innovation ecosystems.

Recently, the Group became a partner of Bertrand Piccard’s Solar Impulse Foundation and joined the Foundation’s World Alliance for Efficient Solutions, launched at COP23.

Together with other corporations, associations, and governments, ENGIE will actively participate in pulling 1,000 profitable innovations aligned with five key SDG’s (including SDG7) into the market by December 2018 (COP 24).

Fontani concluded: “I believe we have many reasons to be optimistic about the future of affordable, reliable and clean energy solutions. ENGIE will continue to push the energy transition agenda globally, in partnership with its local stakeholders and inspired by shared universal goals towards low-carbon prosperity.”

What is World Alliance for Efficient Solutions?

WORLD ALLIANCE for efficient solutions

DECISION MAKERS GOVERNMENT

EMPOWER

by SOLARIMPULSE FOUNDATION Independent Experts

CORPORATION

1000

EFFICIENT SOLUTIONS

SELECT APPRAISE

WORLD ALLIANCE

for efficient solutions World Alliance Institutional Collaborations

INSTITUTION

Helping to adopt ambitious energy policies and environmental targets

SEEKERS

INVESTORS

INNOVATORS

FEDERATE FUNDING, COMMUNICATION, OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

Foundation Partners

SOLARIMPULSE FOUNDATION

49

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

RESEARCH

Low Carbon Economy Index 2017- Country Summary Change in carbon intensity 2015-16

Paris target annual change in carbon intensity 2015-16

Annual average change in carbon intensity 2000-2016

Change in energy related emissions 2015-2016

Real GDP growth (PPP) 2015-2016

Carbon Intensity (tCO2/$m GDP) 2016

World

-2.6%

-3.0%

-1.4%

0.4%

3.1%

281

G7

-2.9%

-3.6%

-2.2%

-1.4%

1.5%

237

E7

-4.2%

-1.7%

-1.6%

0.5%

4.9%

337

UK

-7.7%

-3.2%

-3.7%

-6.0%

1.8%

142

China

-6.5%

-3.4%

-2.7%

-0.2%

6.7%

431

Mexico

-4.6%

-2.4%

-0.7%

-2.4%

2.3%

197

Australia

-3.8%

-4.5%

-2.0%

-1.2%

2.8%

339

Brazil

-3.8%

-2.9%

0.1%

-7.2%

-3.6%

156

US

-3.4%

-3.9%

-2.5%

-1.8%

1.6%

284

Japan

-2.4%

-4.2%

-1.0%

-1.5%

1.0%

228

Canada

-2.1%

-4.5%

-1.9%

-0.7%

1.5%

344

Russia

-1.7%

0.7%

-3.1%

-2.0%

-0.2%

443

EU

-1.6%

-3.2%

-2.3%

0.2%

1.9%

170

India

-1.6%

-1.9%

-1.7%

5.4%

7.1%

261

Korea

-1.0%

-4.3%

-1.3%

1.8%

2.8%

409

Germany

-0.6%

-3.2%

-1.9%

1.3%

1.9%

188

Italy

-0.4%

-3.2%

-1.9%

0.5%

0.9%

143

Saudi Arabia

0.2%

0.7%

-1.4%

1.9%

1.7%

397

France

0.4%

-3.2%

-2.4%

1.6%

1.2%

118

South Africa

0.7%

-2.7%

-1.8%

1.0%

0.3%

555

Turkey

2.5%

1.9%

-1.4%

5.4%

2.9%

179

Argentina

2.7%

1.6%

0.0%

0.4%

-2.3%

215

Indonesia

3.4%

-3.9%

-1.1%

8.5%

5.0%

171

Country

Key

Top 5 in Index

Bottom 5 in Index

Notes: The UK. Germany, France and Italy all have the EU’s required decarbonisation rate for the Paris target, since they are all subsumed under the same NDC. Source: PWC, Low Carbon Economy Index

50

Issue 04 | January 2018

NDC targets for G20 countries

60-65 % 41

%

reduction against 2005 carbon intensity by 2030.

reduction against business as usual emissions by 2030.

40

%

reduction against 1990 absolute emissions by 2030

37

%

reduction against 2005 absolute emissions by 2025 and indicative 43% against 2005 by 2030.

25-30%

reduction against 1990 absolute emissions by 2030.

26-28%

reduction against 2005 absolute emissions by 2030.

26-28%

reduction against 2005 absolute emissions by 2025.

26%

reduction against 2013 absolute emissions by 2030.

22%

37%

reduction aagainst baseline scenario by 2030.

33-35%

reduction against business as usual scenario by 2030.

reduction against baseline scenario by 2030 against 2005 by 2030.

reduction against 2005 carbon intensity by 2030.

30%

reduction against 2005 absolute emissions by 2030.

21%

130 MtC02e

reduction on annual dynamic baseline by 2030.

398-614 MtC02e

Emissions in a range between 398 and 614 MtC02e by 2025-30.

Source: PWC, Low Carbon Economy Index

51

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

Global renewable energy statistics 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption)

11.9%

12.3%

12.1%

12.0%

13.2%

16.8%

Electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric (% of total)

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

9.4%

27.4%

Renewable electricity output (% of total electricity output)

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

9.4%

27.4%

1.59

1.48

1.40

1.38

1.31

1.34

Electricity production from oil sources (% of total)

Source: World Bank Data

52

Issue 04 | January 2018

Total aggregate anthropogenic emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, MIX and NF3 with emissions/removals from land use, land-use change and forestry, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2014 and 2015 Party

Australia Austria Belarus a Belgium Bulgaria a, b Canada Croatiaa Cyprus Czechia a Denmark Estoniaa European Union c Finland France Germany Greece Hungary a, b Iceland Ireland Italy Japan Latviaa Liechtenstein Lithuania a Luxembourg Malta Monaco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland a, b Portugal Romania a, b Russian Federation a Slovakia a Slovenia a, b Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey d Ukraine a United Kingdom United States

1990

579,348 66,666 115,810 143,508 100,994 511,726 24,564 5,521 189,339 75,395 38,668 5,410,922 58,453 523,589 1,219,604 100,903 107,698 13,690 61,900 516,662 1,204,804 17,354 233 44,529 12,779 2,385 99 226,811 34,451 41,279 553,564 61,245 285,032 3,930,043 65,469 15,573 262,684 34,933 53,078 183,753 910,319 802,516 5,543,467

2000

551,257 64,307 48,040 147,324 49,756 675,773 17,750 8,252 139,420 75,521 13,917 4,851,379 48,189 532,664 1,004,997 124,216 72,694 14,023 75,014 536,621 1,296,238 3,641 270 9,780 8,915 2,664 108 225,423 42,774 31,153 359,134 77,204 117,345 1,920,867 40,144 12,977 348,018 30,775 57,383 260,265 388,771 713,583 6,461,499

kt CO2 eq 2010

562,037 79,172 53,757 130,524 50,694 672,652 20,065 9,408 131,426 63,465 19,219 4,454,971 48,288 477,421 925,382 114,984 60,854 15,005 65,862 473,438 1,233,611 14,221 251 10,881 11,997 3,021 87 220,057 47,463 29,362 376,249 58,381 102,403 2,020,883 40,547 12,803 318,328 16,513 53,117 359,980 382,883 609,854 6,208,268

2014

526 816 71,496 63,553 112,149 50,370 694,232 16,458 8,250 118,038 51,946 19,326 3,975,426 30,736 420,217 889,385 98,910 52,518 14,794 62,398 388,987 1,296,815 15,533 216 12,537 10,300 2,933 80 194,048 56,472 28,582 350,801 54,498 97,155 2,076,025 34,556 10,903 284,839 8,660 47,784 396,100 355,237 518,944 5,978,327

Number of Parties showing a decrease in emissions by more than 1 per cent: Number of Parties showing a change in emissions within 1 per cent: Number of Parties showing an increase in emissions by more than 1 per cent:

2015

525,565 74,027 62,198 115,537 54,608 688,258 18,510 8,262 120,486 53,475 15,681 4,003,114 29,516 427,840 887,352 92,575 54,580 14,831 64,192 396,806 1,261,628 12,680 208 13,391 9,864 2,230 82 201,749 56,373 29,589 356,998 60,275 98,169 2,132,231 34,841 11,202 296,890 3,177 47,144 411,035 308,203 499,397 5,827,723

Change from 1990 to 2015 (%)

–9.3 11.0 –46.3 –19.5 –45.9 34.5 –24.6 49.6 –36.4 –29.1 –59.4 –26.0 –49.5 –18.3 –27.2 –8.3 –49.3 8.3 3.7 –23.2 4.7 –26.9 –10.7 –69.9 –22.8 –6.5 –17.7 –11.0 63.6 –28.3 –35.5 –1.6 –65.6 –45.7 –46.8 –28.1 13.0 –90.9 –11.2 123.7 –66.1 –37.8 5.1

33 0 10

a

A Party with an economy in transition.

Data for the base year defined by decisions 9/CP.2 and 11/CP.4 (Bulgaria (1988), Hungary (average of 1985–1987), Poland (1988), Romania (1989) and Slovenia (1986)) are used for this Party instead of 1990 data. c Emission estimates of the European Union are as reported for its 28 member States as a group and are reported separately from those of each individual member State. d Decision 26/CP.7 invited Parties to recognize the special circumstances of Turkey, which place it in a situation different from that of other Parties included in Annex I to the Convention. b

Source: UNFCCC. Secretariat

53

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

PROJECT

The sun is rising on UAE solar Maysun Solar builds solar panel assembly plant in JAFZA

J

ebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), has welcomed its first photovoltaic solar panel producer, Maysun Solar, which is currently manufacturing two types of panels, 60 Serial and 72 Serial panels. The Serial 60 panels have the capability to produce 40 megawatts of electricity and Maysun plans to produce 15,000 of these solar panels per month, and 12,000 panels a month of the 72 Serial panels within the next two years. The 72 Serial panels have the capacity to produce 150-200MW of electricity.

“I have to say that at a time where more than one billion people still don’t have access to electricity, and the repercussions of climate change are already being experienced, and now is the time to go solar,” said Maysun Solar General Manager Sai xuezhao. “We 54

intend to transfer all our operations and investments to Jafza over the coming years, and we also plan to raise investment in Dubai.”

This would raise its investment in Dubai from $5 million to $10 million. The company has gained a range of relevant certifications, including its DEWA certifications.

The launch of Maysun Solar follows a growing interest in the solar industry across the UAE, in line with the governments goals to have 25% renewable energy by 2030.

The launch of Maysun Solar also follows DP World’s ongoing solar energy project in Jafza and Mina Rashid Port involving the installation of 88,000 rooftop solar panels as part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions (see pg. 24).

MAYSUN SOLAR FZCO on 05 January 2017 passed the TUV NORD certification(MONO SERIES).

MAYSUN SOLAR FZCO on 05 January 2017 passed the TUV NORD certification(POLY SERIES).

MAYSUN SOLAR FZCO on 05 January 2017 passed the CE certification.

MAYSUN SOLAR FZCO on 03 November 2016 passed the ISO9001:2015 system requirements certification governance.

Source: Maysun Solar

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

PRODUCTS

Diya One X The Diya One X robot.

T

he Diya One X, in partnership with Engie, follows the success of its predecessor, the Diya One. These robots were developed after developer Ramesh Caussy decided to develop something that would purify the indoor air and address poor health quality in buildings. He developed a scalable and interactive robotic platform capable to treat the air in large, and complex indoor environments such as workplaces, museums, malls or adult nursing homes.

The Diya One was the world’s first neuro-inspired and multi-services robotic platform, and features an exclusive AI that allows the robot to navigate smoothly large and dynamic environments. Nonhumanoid and fully autonomous, the Diya 56

One X is capable of specific interactions with indoor environments and occupants.

Its first field of application being air purification, Diya One X is a scalable modular platform, able to enhance its functionalities according to the needs and usages.

Diya One X enjoys incredible navigation capabilities as it navigates smoothly and autonomously in highly dynamic environments of 1000+ square metres, without cartography, laser, or any specific environmental configuration.

As well-being is often related to one’s performance, seeking people’s wellbeing is a new necessity, including in the workplace: 97% of managers believe that their employees’ wellbeing is a major concern.

Building on the incredible expertise of Diya One in measuring and treating the air, Partnering Robotics improved its scalable platform with new sensors to measure precisely the lighting and noise levels in the indoor environment.

Thus, Diya One X upgrades its set of services to take into consideration the main environmental factors that impacts the comfort and well-being of the building’s occupants: air quality, temperature, relative humidity, lighting and noise levels – noise pollution being the first harmful factor in the workplace.

Carefully selected, these factors have been mentioned in several studies as impacting employees’ motivation, pride, sense of belonging as well as the attractivity of the company for talents.

Navigating smoothly in large and dynamic environments, Diya One X acts as a network of mobile sensors and as a mobile IoT gateway, able to activate on demand set sensors or a technological infrastructure. Thus, the robot Diya One X gathers localised and real time big data and incorporate the heterogeneous data into indexes and graphs; turning hardly noticeable phenomena into tangible and usable information.

Diya One X allows unique in-depth information that come in handful for an optimum building exploitation.

More sensors mean more dynamic yet raw data; it is nevertheless necessary to treat and model this abundance of data to give them meaning. In addition to Live Data, Diya One X offers in-depth and dynamic indoor atmospheres maps. These “indoor weather maps” allow to visualise and understand at a glance the quality of indoor atmospheres by precisely localizing the phenomena (air pollution, CO2, noise pollution...) geographically and in time.

Displayed with several granularity levels, these unique visual representations are new levels of awareness.

Issue 04 | January 2018

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The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

“

In early 2016 we started the company, and in the year-and-ahalf since we have already impacted more than 20,000 lives in Kenya.

“

Alexandre Allegue Chairman and Co-Founder of Pawame

DISRUPTERS

Small investment; big impact Alexandre Allegue, Chairman and Co-Founder of micro-financed solar power kit provider Pawame discusses how his business can change lives

58

Issue 04 | January 2018

P

awame provides solar home systems to remote areas of Africa on a micro-finance basis. The company has managed to reach areas that are so remote that businesses have previously been unableto access them. Pawame provides these communities with a solar home kit that comes with extremely low energy LED lamps, a radio, a torch, sockets for mobile charging, and a TV, which is optional.

Very soon Pawame aims to deploy energy efficient fridges and water pumps as part of these kits as well. The kit is designed to cover anything that is vital.

“Seventy per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa has no access to electricity. In 2015, I was trying to find a way to crack the energy problem in Africa, and this is when the story of Pawame began. It is a model where you make expensive solar equipment affordable to low income villages through micro-finance.

At the end of 2015 I started finetuning the model, and approaching investors. In early 2016 we started the company, and in the year-and-a-half since we have already impacted more than 20,000 lives in Kenya,” said Alexandre Allegue, Chairman and CoFounder of Pawame.

Pawame has trained agents in the regions in which they operate.

These agents actively look for people to purchase the kits, strategically targeting off grid communities.

Pawame agents then assess the customer to see if they can afford the kit, which requires an upfront fee of $30.

“The reason we ask for the upfront fee is to make sure the customer will have the financial capabilities to pay off the 18-month lease that comes with the system. The way our system works is the same way as a phone contract, so, for example, when you buy an iPhone, you pay a fee and then get a subscription plan over two years, and

pay off the remaining balance of the phone over this period, then the phone is yours. We use a similar approach.

Our customers lease-to-own. The fee makes sure customers won’t stop paying after a month,” he said.

Prior to the rental, Pawame collects as much data as possible in order to a create credit profile on each customer, detailing who the customer is and what income bracket and lifestyle category they fit into.

“We target customers that fall into the lowest levels of the economic pyramid. We look for really remote areas such as Turkana, communities that are in the middle of nowhere,” Allegue noted.

Pawame currently collects its payments exclusively by phone through a mobile payment service that is hugely popular in East Africa called M-Pesa.

There is very good mobile coverage in East Africa and if there is no mobile coverage in the village the consumer just has to go to a point with mobile coverage. Once a customer makes a payment through M-Pesa, they receive an SMS with a code and enter it into the solar kit. After the upfront fee, the customer pays $0.45 per day for 18 months before the system becomes theirs.

Partners for solar units Pawame teamed up with a German manufacturer named Fosera that designs the solar kit in Germany and manufactures them in Thailand.

When the company started, it initially could not find an equipment provider offering the kit that Pawame required. Pawame developed its own proprietary kit but quickly understood that strategically it didn’t want to be a manufacturer. Pawame wanted to purchase best-in-class kits from the market, eventually identifying the German provider, because the company sees this technology and the product becoming a commodity. The flood of poor quality solar and lighting products into the African market from China has affected the population’s

Alexandre Allegue, Chairman and Co-Founder of Pawame

confidence in solar.

Kit maintenance “Our kits are hardy units, built-forpurpose and come with a three-year warranty. If a kit breaks Pawame has agents who collect and replace them.

The company will also come and collect the kits of customers that default on their loan.

“We monitor the customers, we know if the kit is paid or not, whether it works or not, all of this is monitored with the cloud, and we have a customer service center that contacts the customers to make sure everything goes well. If there are any problems, within one to two days we have people that can go and pick it up. So, the agents that we have are all located in the villages of the customers and they are paid on commission. If there is any problem then agents go back and bring the kit to a repair center. We replace the kit immediately. It is the same approach if the customer stops paying.

If we don’t receive the payment after the default period, they get warning messages then we go and pick up the kit, refurbish it and sell it on,” said Allegue.

59

The Sustainabilist | ENERGY

INDEX

DSM Electricity and Water Savings (2011-2016 actual, 2017 to 2030 target) 19

Electricity Savings and Contribution of DSM Programs (TWh, 2011 to 2016 actual, 2017 to 2030 target)

BASE CASE

12

Targets Achieved

1.5

1.7

1.7

1.9

2011

2012

2013

2014

2.3

2015

Savings vs BAU

2.8

2.9

2016

2017

3.7

2018

4.5

2019

5.4

2020

2025

2030 30%

6.8%

47

Water Savings and contribution of DSM Programs (BIG, 2011 to 2016 actual, 2017 to 2030 target) BASE CASE

29

Targets Achieved

13.1

3.3

3.5

3.3

3.3

3.4

3.7

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Savings vs BAU

DSM Program Owners, TAQATI analysis

60

14 %

4.8

2017

6.9

2018

9.1

2019

2020

2025

2030 30%