ADNOC, Tabreed announce advances in effort to harness geothermal energy

ADNOC and the National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) announced a breakthrough in their efforts to harness geothermal energy, in a statement released today. The project is the first in the Gulf region to channel geothermal energy for use across its projects.

The two companies said that they had concluded the testing on two wells at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. The wells produced hot water at temperatures exceeding 90 degrees celsius (oC) and flow rates of approximately 100 liters per second (l/s), as per the release.

The hot water generated by the heat from the wells will now pass through an absorption cooling system to produce chilled water, which will then be supplied to Tabreed’s district cooling network at Masdar City, accounting for 10 per cent of its cooling needs.

.@ADNOCGroup and @Tabreed have made a breakthrough in the first project in the Gulf region to harness geothermal energy for district cooling in Masdar City. The project holds significant potential to decarbonise urban cooling systems and the energy mix in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. pic.twitter.com/DVuQHGnjN7

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) August 14, 2023

Geothermal energy in UAE’s energy matrix

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, ADNOC executive director for Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth, said, “Across ADNOC, we are developing and deploying innovative climate technologies and low carbon solutions to deliver on our accelerated decarbonisation plan and net zero by 2045 ambition.”

He added, “Geothermal heat is a clean and renewable source of energy abundantly available in the UAE and capable of providing baseload electricity. However, until now, it has remained an untapped source of energy. By leveraging technological advances, for the first time ADNOC and Tabreed have unlocked this clean energy source to decarbonise one of the most energy-intensive sectors in the country.”

The geothermal project aims to decarbonise the cooling of buildings in Masdar City, in order to diversify the UAE’s energy mix and support the UAE National Energy Strategy 2050.

The energy transition aims to grow renewable energy capacity to 14 GW by 2030.

The project is being funded by ADNOC’s initial $15bn allocation towards low-carbon solutions and will support its decarbonisation plan.

Currently, the cooling of buildings account for the majority of the UAE’s electricity consumption. District cooling offers a sustainable alternative to traditional cooling methods as it is estimated to be 50 per cent more energy efficient in standard operations.

Leveraging geothermal heat for district cooling operations has the potential to significantly reduce electricity demand for cooling from the grid, helping to decarbonise one of the most energy-intensive sectors in the region, noted ADNOC in its statement.

Khalid Al Marzooqi, CEO, Tabreed, said, “The integration of geothermal energy with district cooling operations represents a significant advancement in the UAE’s journey towards diversifying its energy mix and achieving net zero by 2050. We are proud of our collaboration with ADNOC to accelerate our decarbonization efforts in the leadup to COP28, which also underscores our commitment to exploring the latest technologies and harnessing the power of renewables to meet the rising demand for sustainable cooling.”

ADNOC is pioneering the development of geothermal energy in the UAE, which can provide a supply of clean baseload energy for electricity generation.

Building on the success of the project, ADNOC is also working with several companies to maximise the contribution of geothermal energy in the UAE using the latest drilling and power generation technologies.