UAE pledges Dh150.6 million in clean energy loans to six developing nations



ABU DHABI // Clean-energy projects in Mali, the Maldives, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Ecuador and Samoa have been chosen to receive Dh150 million in loans from the UAE.

The funding will allow the nations’ governments to help their rural communities by building wind, solar, hydro and biomass projects with a total capacity of 35 megawatts.

This is the first round in a seven-year cycle that will see Dh1.3 billion provided to developing countries by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, in cooperation with the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The projects were announced at Irena’s fourth annual assembly, which took place as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and ended yesterday.

The concessionary loans, which cover half the cost of each project, are part of a pledge made by the UAE in 2009 in its successful campaign to become host of Irena’s headquarters.

“We firmly believe as a fund that we should support developing countries in acquiring renewable energy,” said Adel Al Hosani, director of the development fund’s operations.

Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, under secretary of state at the Polish ministry of economy, and chairwoman of the Irena advisory committee, said: “These projects show the real impact of Irena in the world.”

In the Maldives, a Dh22m loan will help the government to build a waste-to-energy plant that solves three environmental and health problems at the same time.

It will reduce the need for landfills, a serious issue for small island nations where space is limited, generate 2MW of clean energy and produce 62 million litres of potable water a year through desalination.

About 120,000 people are expected to benefit from the scheme.

In Mauritania, a 15MW wind-power network will be built with the help of an Dh18.3m loan. The project will help coastal communities that are isolated from the country’s main grid.

Schools, health centres and desalination plants will be powered, and the project will also give fishermen reliable access to ice for their catches.

In Samoa, a loan of Dh25.7m will help to fund the building of two plants to produce energy and biodiesel from biomass. Three megawatts of energy and 4 million litres of biodiesel will be produced each year.

Also receiving funding are a 3MW hydro energy project in Ecuador to generate electricity for a community of 7,000 people, and solar photovoltaic projects in Mali and Sierra Leone.

In choosing the winning applicants, Irena’s experts assessed the socio-economic impact and technical merits of projects, with the fund making final selections based on the agency’s recommendations.

“The selection criteria used in the project review ensured that these six projects selected are representative of geographic spread of the agency membership and cover a variety of renewable-energy technologies,” said Ms Antoniszyn-Klik.

“This will have a great impact for the development of renewable energy and sustainable development goals.

“The criteria also ensured that the projects were technically sound, they had to be innovative, replicable and improve energy access and security.”

The six projects were chosen from 80 applications filed with Irena. They had a total value of Dh2.9bn, “showing the tremendous need for capital in this area”, said Ms Antoniszyn-Klik.

Dr Adnan Amin, secretary general of Irena, said the impact of the funding would be more significant than just providing finance for the six projects, auguring well for other developing countries.

“There is a large pipeline of renewable-energy projects that are viable and feasible projects today,” Dr Amin said. “The importance of this is the building of a global pipeline of projects that can actually be attractive to other investors.

“We are talking to a number of international financial institutions who are interested in sharing the pipeline of projects with us and looking at it from the perspective of future finance.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week will also include the World Future Energy Summit, International Water Summit, and the announcement of winners in the Zayed Future Energy Prize.

vtodorova@thenational.ae

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4

Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt

Results
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Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

  1. Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate. 
  2. Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc. 
  3. Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway. 
  4. Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
  5. Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk 

Stars:  Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun

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The biog

Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents

Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University

As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families

Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too

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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

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4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

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10 tips for entry-level job seekers
  • Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
  • Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now

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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Scoreline

Arsenal 0 Manchester City 3

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh12 million

Engine 8.0-litre quad-turbo, W16

Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch auto

Power 1479 @ 6,700rpm

Torque 1600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100kph: 2.6 seconds 0-200kph: 6.1 seconds

Top speed 420 kph (governed)

Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?

Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.

They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen 

They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.

The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.

UAE squad v Australia

Rohan Mustafa (C), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Fahad Nawaz, Amjed Gul, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Muhammad Naveed, Amir Hayat, Ghulam Shabir (WK), Qadeer Ahmed, Tahir Latif, Zahoor Khan