HE Suhail Al Mazrouei predicts a dominant role for renewables in the future

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The seventh edition of Masdar Live saw His Excellency Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, share his insights about the current fossil fuel economy and his hopes for the energy economy of the future. 

During his 15-minute address to Masdar employees, HE focused his discussion on the UAE National Energy Strategy 2050, which calls for a diversification of the UAE’s energy mix and less reliance on fossil fuels:

“As we are seeing a historical reduction in gas prices, I think we will see a domination of renewable energy and gas, with less reliance on coal. Fossil fuels will of course continue to play a key role, but they will not be as dominant as they were in the past. My hope is that we will also see a reduction in CO2 emissions, as a result of optimization in fossil fuels in the sector.”

The Minister highlighted that we must focus on innovation and R&D opportunities to be able to realize the country’s energy strategy:

“We need to find ways to make our national housing greener and rely less on the grid. We need to innovate batteries, and explore options for installing solar rooftops where feasible.”

He continued: “The role of R&D is also crucial to our transformation. We need to work on demand side management as well as building smarter buildings and cities. Renewable energy is going to be essential here.”

HE concluded by sharing his aspirations for seeing a reduction in our energy consumption, and the pivotal role renewable energy will play in achieving this:

“I believe that as a population, we should strive to consume less, and introduce ways of optimizing energy consumption. By introducing renewable energy into our energy mix, we will see savings of nearly AED 700 billion.”

“By 2050, you and I, our children and our grandchildren will need to consume 40 percent less energy than we consume today. My wish for our great nation is to see our buildings smarter, our cities cleaner. This will be key in keeping us competitive, contribute to the growth of our economy and making the UAE the best destination in the world to live and work.”