As Masdar celebrates its 10th anniversary, we take a closer look at its achievements in the UAE and beyond.
Masdar 10@10: Solar Impulse
On Saturday night, the record-breaking solar-powered airplane, Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), completed the ninth leg of its ongoing, round-the-world adventure, crossing the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California's Silicon Valley.
Described by its pilot and project chairman, Betrand Piccard, as a flying laboratory and "concentration of clean technologies", the aircraft's wings are equipped with more than 17,240 solar cells that help to power its propellers and electric engines.
As the project's official host partner, Masdar will welcome Si2 back to Abu Dhabi if and when it finally completes its journey.
"Solar Impulse and Masdar share a visionary spirit and a common goal of advancing renewable energy," said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, chief executive of Masdar.
"Having accepted a challenge considered impossible by many, the pilots are redefining the world's perception of what can be achieved through clean-tech innovation and of the possibilities of renewable energy."
Masdar 10@10: clean energy, off-grid
From domestic solar installations in Egypt, Afghanistan and Morocco to small-scale photovoltaic plants in the Seychelles and its US$50 million, grant-funded UAE — Pacific Partnership Fund, Masdar has had a direct impact on the lives of people in rural, remote and hard-to-reach communities with limited access to centralised energy grids.
These include solar power projects in Pacific island countries such as Kiribati, Fiji and Vanuatu as well as the La'a Lahi 'Big Sun' solar plant in Tonga and the first wind farm in Samoa.
Masdar 10@10: Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST)
The world's first graduate-level university dedicated to providing workable solutions to issues of future energy and sustainability, MIST was established in 2007 with assistance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The first institution to occupy Masdar City, MIST includes research centres dedicated to sustainable bio-energy, smart grids and smart building technologies and renewable energy and superfast 3D computer chips.
To date, the Institute has filed over 70 patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Masdar 10@10: Solar Hub
Launched in 2015, the Masdar Solar Hub is a state-of-the-art research and testing facility for photovoltaic and solar thermal technology located at Masdar City.
Masdar 10@10: Desalination
In November 2015, Masdar inaugurated a renewable energy desalination programme in Ghantoot with the immediate aim of producing 1,500 cubic metres a day of potable water and the long term goal of implementing renewable energy-powered desalination plants across the UAE.
Masdar claims that if 15 per cent of Abu Dhabi's new desalination capacity is generated by renewables-powered technology, the emirate could save US$94 million dollars annually after 2020.
Masdar 10@10: Zayed Future Energy Prize
Established by the UAE leadership in honour of the nation's founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the annual Zayed Future Energy Prize has been described as the Oscars of future energy.
As well as recognising the work of corporations and non-profit organisations, the prize also rewards the ingenuity of schoolchildren and teachers through its Global High School initiative and has benefited 202 million people worldwide in the process.
Masdar 10@10: Masdar City
The focus of media attention and a lightning rod for criticism, Masdar City was launched, in 2007, to much fanfare, as the world's first zero-waste, zero-carbon, self-sustaining city. Those promises were not kept but Masdar City now sits, wiser and more realistically, on the brink of a new wave of expansion that will see it grow exponentially over the next five years.
"Had the original vision not tried to achieve the impossible then we wouldn't have had the necessary ambition and leadership that allows us, ten years on, to be at the robust point where we are now," explains Anthony Mallows, Masdar City executive director. "It may not be as Earth-shattering, but it's far more durable."
Masdar 10@10: Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Many of Masdar's initiatives are designed to maintain Abu Dhabi's position of influence, diplomatically and in the energy market, in a post-oil world, but none have as direct an impact as Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, which has attracted global leaders and positioned the UAE at the forefront of debate.
Masdar 10@10: wind power
Internationally, almost a million people will benefit from wind-generated renewable energy when the Masdar-funded Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm comes online in 2017.
In partnership, Masdar has already part-funded the largest offshore wind farm in the world, the 650MW London Array, which powers more than 500,000 homes in the UK and the Tafila Wind Farm, the first utility-scale renewable energy project in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Masdar 10@10: Clean Energy
Since Masdar was established in 2006, Masdar Clean Energy has invested US$2.7 billion in clean energy projects around the world and currently has nearly 1.5GW of renewable energy projects either in operation or under development globally including 246MW of utility scale solar power.
Masdar's solar projects include the 20-megawatt Gemasolar plant in Spain, the first commercial solar plant in the world to employ technology that extends the plant's operation beyond the hours of daylight.
