• Strategic Justification

The United Arab Emirates or UAE over the course of the last few decades has transformed from a
once desolate and very poor nation into the metropolis for overconsumption, home to Dubai and
Abu Dhabi, cities that are essentially now a global business hub and a go to luxury getaway
tourist destination for the world. Dubai's main cargo port Jebel Ali is the busiest port in the
Middle East and arguably the United Arab Emirates most valuable commercial asset spread over
57 square kilometers, it is the world's largest economic free zone. It's one of more than twenty
other industry specific free zones spread around Dubai all set up by the UAE government these
zones attract businesses with tax breaks, custom duty benefits and no foreign ownership
restrictions all within a developed infrastructure that is run by an independent authorities helping
streamline bureaucracy within UAE, Accounting for more than 20% of total foreign investment
in the UAE, the zone alone employs close to 150,000 people helping generate more than $80
billion worth of trade which accounts for 21% of UAE's GDP. However extensive development
in the city has come at a cost, UAE has the world's sixth largest migrant population with
foreigners making up more than 80% of the people living in the country.
This sharp increase in population and energy demand made it important for the UAE to create
alternative sources of energy instead of just traditional sources such as oil and gas. In recent years
the UAE has heavily invested in renewable energy, prestigious projects such as Masdar and
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makhtoum solar park are leading examples in the world today the
country's energy strategy 2050 aims to increase the contribution of clean energy the total energy
mix to 50% by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of power generation by 70% the UAE is also
looking past its own borders as the government has committed more than $840 million two
renewable energy projects in more than 30 countries in this way we've transformed ourselves
from straggler to pioneer in the field of sustainability and proven you don't always have to
reinvent the wheel to do this.
In this section we will discuss UAE visions and missions about Environmental and Energy policy
and how our proposed project is consistent with UAE’s energy and sustainability policy:

The UAE Energy 2050 strategy launched in 2017, aims to revolutionize the UAE’s energy
sector by increasing the use of clean energy and reducing the carbon footprint of Power
Generation by as much as 70%. Under this strategy, by 2050 about 50% of UAE’s electric power
would be from the combination of clean energy sources i.e clean coal, gas, nuclear energy, solar
and wind power, and biofuels. Although with the development of projects like Masdar and
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makhtoum solar park aligned with energy vision 2050 there is an
increasing shift towards renewable and clean energy sources but as of now in 2020 about 70% of
UAE energy generation is from non renewable energy sources mainly oil.
The strategy will be implemented within three main themes.
• Quick transition of power consumption efficiency diversifying its sources and
ensuring the security of its supply.
• Finding new solutions that complements power and transport systems,
• Research, development and innovation to ensure the sustainability of energy.
The strategy is bound to stimulate economic growth and investment in the power sector,
contributing to reducing power consumption. It will mark the beginning for the sustainability
of the UAE’s power sector
UAE’s Net Zero 2050 national Strategic initiative aims to reduce greenhouse emissions to
zero percent by 2050. Under this strategy the government will invest in renewable energy
sources. Noor Abu Dhabi: The world's lowest-cost and largest solar power plant consisting of 3.2
million solar panels and providing green energy for 90,000 individuals and reduces CO2
emissions by as much as one million tonnes. Continuing on these footsteps, UAE’s government
aims to invest as much as 163 billion dollars on clean renewable energy sources that will help it
in not only realizing its dream of zero emissions but also lessen and reverse the damage of
climate change.

Environment Vision 2030 aims at the integration of three important pillars of

sustainability i.e environmental, economic and social vision to ensure a more efficient use of
resources and overall a better quality of life for people of UAE. It identifies certain priority areas
such as: Climate change and waste management and clean air and reducing noise pollution and
protecting water resources etc. Under this strategy many initiatives have been taken some of
which have been already discussed such as development of solar power plants like Noor Abu
Dhabi and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makhtoum solar park that have helped in achieving goals
laid down under this strategy

The UAE's Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Strategy aims to maintain the
country’s role as a pioneer in technology and innovation and to build and strengthen its position
as a lab and a global hub for Fourth Industrial revolution. Under this strategy, UAE’s government
aims to adopt state of the art and cutting edge technologies to achieve happiness and
sustainability and serve the society. Along with the use of modern technologies in
construction,designing and defense industries, this strategy also aims to incorporate an active use
of modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality to achieve sustainability and
in the true sense build the humans of the future.
UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence being the first of its kind in the region this
strategy aims at an active use of AI technology in sectors like health, transport, space, renewable
energy, water, technology, education, environment and traffic not just its usage but an integration
of AI technologies with these sectors overcome challenges and provide quick and efficient
solutions.
The National Water and Energy Demand Management Programme
emphasizes on improving the efficiency of the three most power-consuming sectors: transport,
industry and construction. It aims to reduce the energy demand by 40% and increase the use of
renewable energy by 50% of the total power output and to ensure the re-use of water resources by
95%.
The UAE Environment Policy comprising of eight main points and agreed upon in Nov
2020, the policy aims to reduce air pollution and limit the effect of climate change. The policy
also aims to preserve natural resources and secure the safety of food products by banning sea
dumping, implementing policies and legislations, making efforts towards sustainability and more.
Summary: Despite being the sole driver of its prosperity for years it seems that the UAE
government has now realized that oil can’t remain a sustainable driver for economic prosperity
forever thus the government has decided to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil.
As a first step in diversifying it is important to reduce the production of energy through oil and
focus on the renewable sources for energy production. As the usage of renewable energy, reduces
green gas emissions and also reduces the carbon footprint in power generation.
Although production through renewable sources like nuclear energy, clean coal and biofuel is on
the rise, the main focus lies on solar energy and solar power plants, as the environmental
conditions of UAE heavily facilitate solar power plants. Many state of the arts projects like
Masdar, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park and Noor Abu Dhabi are already
delivering uninterrupted clean and cheap power to thousands of households
Our proposed project aims to increase efficiency, maximize energy production and reduce the
downtime of maintenance of Solar power plants as life span of the solar panels is expected to be
25 – 30 years but the degradation effect reduces this amount. The Degradation of solar panels
means that solar panels are producing less energy from the same amount of sunlight, and it
happens because of external factors like weather and heat. UAE’s harsh weather has an increased
effect of degradation, and our solution works in reducing this problem which in turn improves the
returns of the long-term investment of the solar power plants that is both necessary and consistent
with the vision mentioned.

Profit wise, environment wise, Society.

https://u.ae/en/more/uae-future/2021-2030
https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-energy/water-and-energy/efforts-towards-
sustainability
 https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/digital-uae/uae-national-digital-government-strategy
https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/country/united-arab-emirates

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/E_Infographic_07.pdf
https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-energy/climate-change/
theuaesresponsetoclimatechange

Solar Panel Degradation and The Lifespan of Solar Panels

(paradisesolarenergy.com)

Vision 2050 The UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative aligns with the Paris Agreement, which calls on
countries to prepare long-term strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and limit the rise in global
temperature to 1.5 C compared to pre-industrial levels.