Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 26 | Page 93

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// INTELLIGENT VERTICAL: ENERGY SEIZING THE POTENTIAL OF THE ENERGY SECTOR Declining reserves and revenues, along with rising domestic energy demand, require a shift to enable performance and sustainability. T he energy and utilities sector in the UAE must harness innovative strategies to overcome some of the greatest sustainability challenges in the GCC, Booz Allen Hamilton has said in a report entitled ‘The Future is Innovation’. Combined, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states hold almost a third of proven crude-oil reserves and approximately a fifth of global gas reserves. However, declining reserves and revenues along with increased consumption due to rapid industrialisation, population growth and rising domestic energy demand, are testing the region’s capacity to its limits. Policy changes and shifting national budgets across the GCC indicate that the www.intelligentcio.com region’s governments are responding to these challenges, and the region’s key energy and utilities players will need to adapt to new realities. In the UAE, a Masdar-led consortium is developing the 800-megawatt Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in partnership with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). It is set to be the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the IPP model, and falls in line with the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to advance the country’s sustainability goals. Another pillar of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 is the Dubai Green Fund. The fund is in place to support sustainability projects and is driving securitisation, with “ THE KEY TO SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS LIES IN INNOVATION, WHICH IS A FORCE CONSTANTLY PROMOTED YET ALL TOO INFREQUENTLY EMBRACED. INTELLIGENTCIO 93