A Middle East green energy push

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The oil-rich United Arab Emirates doesn’t have to worry about energy independence. It has enough reserves of crude and natural gas to last it a century at least.

Yet this federation of seven states on the Persian Gulf appears to have glimpsed a post-carbon world and is making some surprising moves into renewable energy.

On Monday, the government of Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in terms of land mass, announced that it will generate 7% of its electricity from green sources by 2020. That’s modest compared with California, which is shooting for 33% by 2020. But it’s a start for a tiny place with an outsized carbon footprint that’s starting virtually from zero when it comes to clean energy.

The announcement came at the start of the World Future Energy Summit, which Abu Dhabi is hosting this year. The renewable push will be led by Masdar, a clean-technology initiative launched by the Abu Dhabi in 2006. Masdar has already poured billions of petro-dollars into green energy, including investments in a German photovoltaic company and a wind farm off the coast of England. It has already broken ground on Masdar City, a renewable-powered city of 50,000 inhabitants that it hopes to turn into a showcase for sustainability.

“The world has reached a tipping point in the acceptance of renewable energy,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar chief executive, in a speech opening the energy summit.

The emirate’s green-energy ambitions are creating opportunity for at least one California firm. Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. is buying solar-module manufacturing equipment from Santa Clara-based Applied Materials Inc. for the Masdar City project.

-- Marla Dickerson