Post-Durban World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi is now a huge opportunity for clean energy developers in the Middle East region.
Ever since the European Union adopted the Kyoto Accord and with it the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which funds renewable development in the developing world to offset carbon emissions in Europe, the developing world has become the driving force behind renewable energy investment. And now that Durban expands the Kyoto Accord, even more so.
So it is appropriate that one of the four top global business investment companies is sponsoring the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2012 Project Village in Abu Dhabi from 16-19 January.
READ: Durban Gives 6 Reasons for the Middle East to Celebrate
Ernst & Young is one of the top four firms globally in tracking and assessing business opportunities (in every field) But its excellent fair-minded analysis of the promise of renewable energy development alone has been invaluable to all who cover clean energy development.
It is a mark of the huge clean energy potential in the MENA region, that it is the founding and lead sponsor of the Project Village, and that it maintains a local Ernst & Young office focused on cleantech in the MENA region. It provides a global platform to conduct business in the clean technology, renewable energy and low carbon market during the four day event which draws thousands of senior level decision makers every year and tens of thousands of visitors.
And it is a mark of the significance of the MENA region’s almost limitless renewable energy potential that the WFES – World Future Energy Summit – which has been held annually in Abu Dhabi since 2006 – has become one of the key clean energy events globally. Nations in the developing world are the last frontier of energy and the future of the post-carbon global economy.
As the visionary physicist Gerhard Knies, one of the founders of Desertec (now DII) calculated, “Within 6 hours deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes within a year.”
(READ ALSO: Desertec Begins: 500 MW Moroccan Solar in 2012)
This year, twenty renewable energy and cleantech developers from across Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE and USA will be present at the Project Village to showcase cutting-edge projects and conduct full business presentations.
These presentations represent a gigantic amount of MENA renewable energy this year. An astonishing 1 GIGAWATT worth of of renewable projects will be represented at the Project Village.
This includes two wind projects showcased by Egypt totaling 420 MW that will be showcased – as the start of a desired 3 GW of wind development – and a solar project with the capacity of 100 MW from Kawar Energy in Jordan.
Lucky visitors will also have the chance to attend a series of presentations and debates by Ernst & Young and Bloomberg New Energy Finance – which also provides excellent insights about the developments within the renewable energy sector – which is co-sponsoring the Project Village.
I wish I could attend!
Read more on Middle East clean tech:
World Bank Funds Massive Grid Expansion to Link Desertec with Arab World
How the Middle East Can Coordinate A Sustainable Agenda
MENA Is Fired Up For A Solar Boom
We need to look forward good outcomes for our business from this summit.
Investors should be going toward clean technologies, the world is going to move toward a low-carbon future. That is inevitable.”
Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)