Making sense of Masdar

A concept image of the Masdar/IRENA headquarters.
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Roberta Gamble, director, Energy & Power Systems, Frost & Sullivan, discusses the view of Masdar from abroad.

As someone based in the US, what’s the overseas perspective of Masdar?

Even though we’ve been researching a lot of solar and wind projects globally, from the US, we don’t hear about Masdar as much as I think we should. Masdar is gaining international recognition, but it’s an amazing project that needs to be advertised further. It has implications for more than just the Middle East. It’s also applicable to Asia, India and the rest of Africa.

Closer to home, do you think the US can implement a similar project?

I think we’re still a way away. A development like Masdar has to have government support and a government mandate; green energy in general requires government assistance. We did a study of states in the US, and 80% of the non-hydro green power generated in the summer comes from states that have renewable portfolio standards. This is where it is mandated rather than just incentivised. Now you could argue that these were the states that were more likely to have mandates in the first place, but I do think it’s important that governments get involved.

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FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

The great thing about Masdar City is that it’s the full solution – it’s totally sustainable – which is way ahead of other projects in, say, the US or Europe. Those regions have been looking at pieces of the puzzle - whether it’s lowering the carbon footprint, being sustainable, reducing waste, or reducing dependency on fossil fuels – but I don’t think we’re really seeing it all come together in one solution sanctioned by the government. I really do think it’s the future.

How do you think the concept of renewable energy will play out in the Gulf?

What I have heard from the gas, oil and renewable energy industries is that they need all the BTUs and all the megawatts they can get. When a country or company wants to become more green, usually the first step is energy efficiency. Waste is expensive. But right now, less than 1% of the installed capacity of electricity in the MENA region is from renewables. Even if you have a target of 2% by 2015, that’s still a massive amount of extra capacity you’re going to have to install. So it will happen, but it will also take time.