by Edna Okoth
Masdar the UAE’s, flagship renewable energy company, hosted a media rountable that focused on accelerating clean energy transitions, specifically in Africa.
Speaking during the event, Masdar Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Al Ramahi
noted that they have already deployed two billion dollars and committed it to invest in Africa.
“We are doubling down on that commitment with two billion dollars of investment to go down to renewable energy accross Africa and ,overally, this means that Masdar will lobby mobilising ten billions dollars of investment to accellerate a strong capacity of ten thousand Megawatts of clear energy projects and as I mentioned, Africa is a key strategic market for Masdar and we are proud of our partnership and project which we have with Africa platforms,” said Mohamed Al Ramahi.
He added that some examples of their ongoing portfolio that is operational ,which is very important, is 1.3 Gigawatts of renewable energy that is operational accross Africa today comes from Masdar and its companies; such a Senegal’s first utility scale wind firm and across Africa 650 Megawatts in South Africa operational today and the total pipeline they have currently that produces not less than ten thousand of Gigawats of renewable energy across different countries in Africa.
“Looking to our future, I’d ike to highlight that our target remains one hundred gigawats by 2030 and one million tones it green hydrogen by 2030 and to make a meaningful impact on the energy transmission in Africa, our country and accross the world, the public and the private sector must work together to allow climate finance and scale up developments and deployment of clean energy projects and that is why we have brought together this great alliance and we have Joined forces to help accellerate this in the horn of Africa nations, ” concluded Mohamed Al Ramahi.
In his remarks, Africa50 Chief Executive Officer, Alain Ebobisse’ stated that they are celebrating a historic partnership where the UAE and Africa are coming together to create green prosperity in Africa.
He also noted that it is not only an impactful initiative, but also the symbol of vibrant Africa that that has full potential and opportunities that are about investments.
“Finally, we believe that this initiative will be a game changer because, that will help scale up the project implementation and also speed up the implementation and we like this initiative because it will help support all the initiatives that Africe will be supporting such as the green industry in Africa,” concluded Alain Ebobisse’.
Also speaking at the event, Director General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, H.E Mohammed Salf Al Suwaidi, said that they have been at the forefront of promoting renewable energy adaptation particularly the region where access to clean energy is very limited.
“Through the initiatives we have created opportunities in Africa and also in other continents to adapt clean sustainable energy sources and last year we signed an MOU with the African development fund with an aim to strengthen our operation on investment on stertegic sector with a primary focus of renewable energy accross all the African countries,” H.E Mohammed Salf Al Suwaidi.
He concluded that they have committed a billion dollar to the Africa green investment development and extended his gratitude for the opportunity and chance to collaborate with the light minded stakeholders so as to change and create a sustainable future Africa.