ABU DHABI (AFP) – Oil-rich Abu Dhabi said Monday it will press ahead with plans to develop solar energy, shrugging off a huge drop in oil prices which is cutting the emirate's revenues.
"The current economic situation has no impact on Masdar's intended and planned projects," said Sultan al-Jaber, chief executive of Masdar, the government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company charged with developing clean energy.
The company's most prestigious project is developing Masdar City in Abu Dhabi -- a 22-billion-dollar cluster city that is to have zero carbon emissions.
"We still have an appetite to look for further opportunities," Jaber told reporters on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit 2009 in the United Arab Emirates' capital.
"We are looking beyond the current economic terms," he said in reference to the global economic crisis which has reduced demand for oil.
The UAE has the world's largest ecological footprint, consuming more natural resources per capita than any other nation, according to a 2008 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Abu Dhabi sits on 90 percent of the UAE's proven oil reserves, which ranks as the world's fifth largest at 97.8 billion barrels. The UAE is OPEC's third largest oil producer, currently pumping 2.4 million barrels a day.
The Gulf state also has over six trillion cubic metres (212 trillion cubic feet) of gas reserves, fourth in the world.
But oil prices have tumbled from a high of 147 dollars per barrel in July to around 40 dollars, slashing revenues for oil-producing countries by some two thirds.
Abu Dhabi's ample fossil energy, however, raises questions about the feasibility of its solar projects, but the emirate appears set on harvesting its other abundant natural resource -- year-round sunshine.
"The main purpose is to develop a new economic sector... All our projects are proceeding," Jaber said a day after Abu Dhabi announced plans to produce seven percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020... read more
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