UAE To Fund Solar Projects In Four Pacific Island Countries

The UAE announced that it has signed partnership agreements to fund renewable energy projects in four Pacific island countries including the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and the Solomon Islands, state news agency WAM reported.

The projects will be financed from the $50 million UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund, with grant financing from Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), it was announced during the ongoing Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

All the solar-powered projects are expected to be completed in 2016.

The four new projects to be delivered include 600 kWp solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands, along with a 500 kWp solar PV plant in Nauru.

In Palau, the fund will deploy 434 kW of solar PV across the islands of Koror, Peleliu and Angaur, including the delivery of 100 solar systems, each 1.7 kW, as part of a clean energy loan programme.

The UAE will also build an innovative water treatment plant, powered by renewables, providing 50 cubicmetres of clean water a day and two diesel generators to maximise the amount of solar energy fed into the grid on Peleliu and Angaur.

“Renewable energy is one of the most cost-competitive power sources to deliver electricity to communities across the Pacific,” said Sultan bin Ahmed Sultan Al Jaber, minister of State and chairman of Masdar.

“For a region facing some of the highest energy costs in the world, access to sustainable sources of power, such as wind and solar, offer the Pacific a viable solution to enhance energy security and economic growth.”

The four new projects are estimated to save one million liters of diesel fuel annually, providing a cost saving of $1.2 million, and mitigating 2,759 tonnes of carbondioxide per year.

Combined with projects in six other countries already approved under the fund – with two completed and four under construction – they represent one of the largest investments in renewable energy in the Pacific.

“As part of our mission to enable developing countries to achieve sustainable development, ADFD has partnered with Masdar to support these countries unlock their vast underutilised renewable potentials,” said Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, director general, ADFD.

“Such collaborative efforts demonstrate how developing countries’ growing appetite for energy can be met affordably and sustainably. For the remote islands of the Pacific, access to clean energy is a critical component to enable their economic and social development.”

The UAE has been active in funding renewable energy projects across the world over the last few years.

In a separate statement, Al Jaber added that the UAE has invested up to $700 million in renewable projects across developing countries since 2009.