Today's Edition
BATOOL GHAITH (ABU DHABI)
As supply disruptions and rising electricity demand put pressure on global energy markets, renewables are increasingly viewed as a long-term resilience strategy as much as a climate solution.
Few countries have grasped that shift more decisively than the UAE, which top industry experts now cite as the model others should follow.
“The UAE has historically been a proving ground for some of the most innovative renewable energy technologies, translating them into large-scale projects,” Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), told Aletihad.
He pointed to Noor Abu Dhabi as having helped set global benchmarks for low-cost solar electricity. On storage, the UAE moved just as fast. As costs fell sharply after 2010, it integrated battery technology into utility-scale infrastructure, most visibly through Masdar's round-the-clock renewable energy project, he added.
One of IRENA's clearest examples is Al Dhafra solar project. The complex combines 5.2GW of solar photovoltaic capacity with 19GWh of battery storage to deliver a firm 1GW of continuous electricity at an estimated $70–80/MWh — a cost level increasingly competitive with conventional fossil fuel generation, and a direct rebuttal to the long-held argument that renewables cannot provide reliable, uninterrupted power.
"The UAE's example sends a powerful signal to other nations," La Camera said. "The model of deploying renewables at home, investing globally, and building supporting infrastructure — including the integration of AI and digitalisation — is exactly what the next phase of deployment requires from major energy producers."
Building the System, Not Just the Capacity
Behind the projects is a deliberate architecture of planning, policy and investment. Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Obaidli, Director General of Regulatory Affairs at Abu Dhabi's Department of Energy (DoE), told Aletihad that the emirate's focus has moved beyond capacity expansion to how the entire system evolves alongside it. "The DoE acts as a system orchestrator across the entire value chain," he said.
Abu Dhabi currently has around 2.6GW of installed solar capacity and a further 3GW under construction, spanning Noor Abu Dhabi, Al Dhafra, and Al Ajban, according to the DoE. The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant adds approximately 5.6GW of clean baseload power.
Solar capacity alone is expected to expand significantly, with plans to exceed 30GW by 2035, driven by large-scale projects and distributed generation alike, Al Obaidli said.
Central to that transition is Abu Dhabi's Round the Clock (RTC) renewable energy project, which pairs large-scale solar with battery storage to deliver continuous power.
"The next phase will be about building a more flexible and integrated system alongside expanding capacity," Al Obaidli said, "ensuring Abu Dhabi continues to deliver reliable, secure, affordable and sustainable power at scale."
The financial terms reinforce the ambition. Through public-private partnership structures, Abu Dhabi has achieved tariffs as low as Dh4.95 per kWh at Al Dhafra — among the lowest solar tariffs in the world, Al Obaidli said.
He stressed that Abu Dhabi is not only offering projects, but building an investable system, pointing to the 2050 energy and water framework targeting up to Dh400 billion in foreign direct investment in the energy and water sector.
Justin Smith, Managing Director at Ansarada, said Abu Dhabi's delivery record reflects structural advantages that few markets can match.
"The UAE's advantage lies in its ability to align planning, financing and execution through coordinated, sovereign-backed frameworks, which reduces friction for investors and enables projects to move from concept to delivery more efficiently," he said.
By integrating generation directly with transmission infrastructure, he noted, projects can avoid the grid connection delays and permit bottlenecks that often slow progress in Western markets.
"For the UAE, positioning itself as a regional AI hub means energy infrastructure needs to be designed with this demand in mind from the outset," Smith said, "requiring closer coordination across generation, storage and transmission, rather than treating them as separate phases”.
Masdar Takes the Model Global
If Abu Dhabi is the laboratory, Masdar is the vehicle through which its approach is being exported. The company's total portfolio reached 65GW in 2025, up from 51GW the year before, placing it two-thirds of the way toward its 100GW target by 2030.
Its CEO, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, told Aletihad that Masdar committed around $15 billion in renewable energy projects globally in 2025, expanding its footprint across the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
In the region, the company secured major solar developments in Saudi Arabia — including the 1,400MW Najran plant and the 600MW Ad Darb facility — and is leading Oman's first utility-scale solar and battery storage project.
Asia has become the company's most active frontier. Masdar signed agreements for 1GW of projects in the Philippines, a 200MW floating solar project in Malaysia, and developed Uzbekistan's largest standalone battery energy storage system.
"We see Asia being the main driver of global electricity demand growth this decade," Al Ramahi said.
The company is also exploring 24/7 renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as governments seek systems capable of supporting energy security and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
"These initiatives show how this technology can support energy security and AI transformation from within the UAE and beyond," Al Ramahi added.
The Global Backdrop
Abu Dhabi's push is unfolding against a global energy landscape in rapid transition. In 2025, renewables accounted for 85.6% of new global power capacity additions, according to IRENA, and their share of total installed capacity climbed from 46.3% in 2024 to 49.4% — edging the world toward the point where clean energy becomes the dominant source of power.
The cost declines behind this shift are sweeping. Since 2010, installed costs have fallen 87% for solar photovoltaic systems and 55% for onshore wind, while battery storage costs have dropped 93%.
IRENA's latest report, “24/7 Renewables: The Economics of Firm Solar and Wind”, finds that firm Levelised Cost of Energy has fallen from above $100/MWh in 2020 to roughly $54–82/MWh by 2025 in high-irradiance regions, with a further 30% reduction projected by 2030.
La Camera argued that successive crises — the oil shocks of the 1970s, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine — have repeatedly exposed the fragility of a centralised, fossil fuel-dependent system.
He stressed that as oil and gas markets remain exposed to geopolitical shocks and supply disruptions, including current tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, countries are increasingly looking toward more resilient energy systems.
"We must rebuild the system itself and accelerate the shift to a more decentralised, renewables-based model built on domestic, resilient and cost-competitive sources," La Camera said.
Gilbert said the geopolitical calculus is shifting alongside the economics. "Countries investing early in renewable capacity are reducing their exposure to supply shocks,” he said.
Globally, renewable energy investment reached $496 billion, according to Ansarada’s 2026 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Outlook Report. The Middle East has emerged as one of the fastest-growing regions, with investment rising 28% year on year to $12.9 billion in 2025.
A Transition That Will Take Time
For all the momentum, the pace of change should not be overstated. Dr Dureid Mahasneh, Chairman of the Edama Association, cautioned that fossil fuels remain structurally embedded in the global economy. Shifting industries, transportation and households toward alternative systems will take time, he said.
Gilbert agreed: "The shift will be gradual, uneven, and influenced by broader macroeconomic conditions."
The experts, however, see the direction as settled. Mahasneh argued that geopolitical disruptions may ultimately accelerate the very transition they complicate. "When oil prices increase or supply is disrupted, countries look for other options, including renewable energy," he said. "Renewables will win at the end."
