Mr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad UAE minister of environment & water said that UAE will go ahead with its plans to further develop its oil industries, while at the same time seeking sustainable solutions to global energy bottlenecks and concerns.

Mr Fahad said that “UAE is well aware of the important role alternative fuels such as hydrogen and ethanol will play in fuelling the global economy and mitigating the impact of climate change. We definitely back any international effort to develop such types of fuels.”

However, he admitted that alternative energy will not replace fossil fuels in the foreseeable future. He said “Despite the great attention given by the international energy community to extraction of new sources of fuels, their share in the global fuel mix is still below the aspired goals. The world needs to develop new efficient technologies for using conventional fuels in sectors such as industry, services and transport and find fresh alternative sources of energy that are clean, safe and affordable.”

Mr Fahad said that Dubai Electricity & Water Authority has signed a MoU for commissioning a USD 6 billion hydrogen power generation station while the Masdar initiative has recently signed an agreement with BP and Rio Tinto to conduct a feasibility study on the front end engineering design of an industrial scale hydrogen fired power generation project with carbon capture and storage.

The project will be the largest of its kind in the world and will provide 500 MW of clean power.