Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar and Albania's state power utility Kesh have signed a preliminary joint venture agreement to explore the development of “gigawatt-scale” renewable projects in Albania.
The joint venture will develop and operate solar, wind and hybrid projects, with potential integration of battery storage, Masdar said on Wednesday. The energy produced is expected to be supplied to the Albanian market and exported to neighbouring countries.
“By leveraging the UAE’s world-class expertise in renewable energy and Albania’s abundant natural resources, our purpose-built, future-ready infrastructure will deliver more energy with fewer emissions to more people than ever before,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Masdar chairman.
Several western Balkan nations depend on polluting lignite coal for at least half their electricity.
Albania, which relies heavily on hydropower, supplements its domestic energy production by importing electricity from its coal-burning neighbours. The country aims to achieve a 54.4 per cent share of renewable energy in its gross final energy consumption by 2030.
“The partnership … is a significant moment not only for Albania’s journey towards a sustainable and secure energy sector, but also embodies the spirit of the strategic partnership between Albania and the UAE,” said Belinda Balluku, Albania’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy.
Masdar, owned jointly by the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company – better known as Taqa, Adnoc and Mubadala, is active in 40 countries. It aims to expand its capacity to at least 100 gigawatts of renewable energy by the end of the decade, from about 20 gigawatts at present.
“As Masdar targets 100 gigawatts by 2030, this joint venture … exemplifies the scale and ambition needed to advance the global energy transition and we look forward to further collaborations in Albania and the Eastern Balkans,” said Mohamed Al Ramahi, chief executive of Masdar.
Separately on Wednesday, Masdar said it signed an agreement with Uzbekistan's Energy Ministry to develop a one-gigawatt wind farm in the Mingbulak region of the country.
Once operational, the wind farm will provide clean energy to 300,000 homes in the region. It is expected to generate 1,000 jobs during construction and 60 jobs during operation.
Last year, Masdar signed a deal to develop 2 gigawatts of wind power in the country, which aims to generate 25 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030.
Masdar’s growth strategy combines acquiring existing businesses and developing projects across various global markets.
In September, the company signed definitive agreements with Brookfield Renewable and its institutional partners to fully acquire Spanish renewable energy company Saeta Yield. Masdar is investing Dh2.8 billion ($762.4 million) in the Seata deal, which has an implied enterprise value of $1.3 billion, the company said at the time.
The same month it also confirmed the financial close for the 154 megawatt Cibuk 2 wind farm in Serbia. The €144 million ($152.8 million) non-recourse project financing was secured through UniCredit, Erste Group and Erste Bank Serbia, which, Masdar said, is a “testament to the feasibility and the viability of renewable energy projects in Serbia”.
In July, Masdar said it invested €817 million to acquire about a 50 per cent stake in Spanish utility Endesa's solar energy assets.
It came a month after the company signed an agreement to acquire Greece’s Terna Energy for an enterprise value of €3.2 billion. Masdar will first acquire 67 per cent of Terna's outstanding shares upon completing the transaction and will then initiate an all-cash mandatory tender offer to purchase the remaining shares of the company, it said in June.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
UAE finals day
Friday, April 13
Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 480hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 570Nm from 2,300-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 10.4L/100km
Price: from Dh547,600
On sale: now
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
