ROW

The UK Government and the United Arab Emirates announced the establishment of a joint £1 million fund for renewable energy policy research at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.

The agreement between the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Masdar Institute will also set up a partnership between government and the private sector to help small businesses deploy low-carbon energy sources.

UK financiers Earth Capital Partners estimate that the potential investment opportunity could be as much as £2 billion.

“These two new collaborative projects are examples of exactly the type of global collaborative effort that we must encourage to tackle climate change problems,” says Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.

Meanwhile, Masdar – Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy initiative – has also signed an agreement with the Canadian province of Alberta to cooperate on carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The agreement, which was also signed at the World Future Energy Summit this week, will see the two governments share information on non-confidential projects.

Masdar is currently developing an ambitious large-scale CCS project that will capture CO₂ from power plants and industrial facilities and transport it to Abu Dhabi’s oil reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery.

For further information:
www.decc.gov.uk
www.masdar.ac.ae/
www.worldfutureenergysummit.com/home.aspx
www.masdaruae.com
www.alberta.ca/

Related stories:
Masdar and E.ON join forces to tackle industrial energy efficiency (19-Jan)
Masdar City to host International Renewable Energy Agency HQ (2-Jul 2009)
Alberta government invests $4 billion to tackle climate change (15-Jul 2008)