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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which officially launched this January, has announced that Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City is to host its headquarters.

IRENA also announced this week that Hélène Pelosse is to be the first director-general of the organisation. She currently works in the office of the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development, and Town and Country Planning.

Pelosse was also responsible for French negotiations for the EU’s Climate and Energy package and designed France’s Renewable Energy Plan.

Germany, Austria and Denmark also bid to host IRENA, but the United Arab Emirates (UAE) offered a $136 million grant over the next six years to support the agency. The German city of Bonn will, however, get to host the agency’s technology and innovation centre, while a liaison office in Vienna, Austria will coordinate cooperation with other relevant organisations.

Masdar City is being planned as the world’s first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city, which will be powered entirely by renewable energy by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.

The project, which started in 2006, is estimated to cost $22 billion and take around eight years to build. Construction on the first phase is due to be completed next year.

For further information:
irena.org/
www.masdar.ae/en/home/index.aspx

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