Rewire global energy system Taqa chief says

8 May 2023

The world needs a grand net-zero infrastructure plan that spans major investments and regulatory support for clean energy generation, distribution and consumption, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company's (Taqa's) group CEO and managing director Jasim Husain Thabet told the World Utilities Congress in Abu Dhabi on 8 May.

"Even with the current expected growth in renewables, we are likely to meet only half of the required decarbonisation… we must rewire the global energy system if we are to meet our net zero (target)," said Thabet.

"We need a grand net-zero infrastructure plan, which will require major investments. There will be no [energy] transition without transmission.

"Utilities must work closely with regulators to receive policy support and investment attention. 

"We need to do more, we need a decisive climate action… and double down on efforts to decarbonise to ensure energy is always accessible and affordable," Thabet said.

Taqa is contributing to this effort by working aiming to reach 100GW of power generation capacity by 2030 as well as supporting the industrialisation and commercialisation of new technologies such as battery energy storage systems.

Thabet said net zero requires energy transition plans that are tailored to national circumstances. "We need renewable energy, decentralised solutions, energy storage. We need an all-of-the-above approach," Thabet said.

He noted the need to support and enable supply chain companies to ramp up their capacity to ensure that they will not constrain the energy transition process.

The executive also addressed the importance of addressing energy consumption patterns to meet net-zero objectives, citing the need to enable people to make positive choices since the kilowatt that is not consumed represents the lowest carbon.

"We must use our economic capabilities to solve climate change," Thabet adds.

Taqa recently invested AED113m ($30.7m) as part of an early development funding round for UK-based startup Xlinks First.

The startup aims to build an $18bn infrastructure to generate renewable energy in Morocco to be transmitted via subsea cables to the UK.

The funding round that recently closed included $6.23m from London-headquartered Octopus Energy Group.  

The UAE will host the UN climate summit Cop28 in December 

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Jennifer Aguinaldo
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