Masdar participates in Armenian Summit of Minds
Yousif Al Ali, Acting Executive Director, Clean Energy, and Yousef Baselaib, Executive Director, Sustainable Real Estate, represented Masdar during the Armenian Summit of Minds held this week in the town of Dilijan and hosted by Armenian President Armen Sarkissian.
The Summit focused on ‘Regional Geopolitics, Economy, and Investments: The Impact of Multipolarity on Trade and Investment Flows’, with the event attended by influential politicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and representatives of leading companies.
The objective of the Summit was to present new ideas concerning the most pressing global issues while establishing mutually beneficial partnerships.
Al Ali spoke on a panel titled ‘Energy, Monetary and Investment Policies, and the Markets’ alongside fellow panelists Alexis Cazin, Lead, Biodiesel Product Line, Cargill, Switzerland; Asif Iqbal, President, Indian Economic Trade Organization, India; and Professor Artem Oganov, Center for Energy Science and Technology, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russian Federation.
The panel was moderated by Armen Nurbekyan, Head, Dilijan Training and Research Centre, Central Bank of Armenia, and opened with a special address by Erik Berglof, Director, Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics, UK.
Al Ali highlighted Masdar’s expanding renewable energy portfolio, which grew by 33 per cent last year, reaching nearly 4GW of gross capacity either in operation or under development in more than 25 countries, while expressing Masdar’s eagerness to pursue bilateral opportunities with new markets, including host country Armenia.
Masdar is already active in Eastern Europe and is currently working on completing Serbia’s largest wind project later this year – the 158-megawatt (MW) capacity Čibuk 1 wind farm. In March, the company also signed a MoU to pursue future opportunities in Uzbekistan.
Armenia’s electricity capacity is roughly one-third hydro, one-third imported gas, and one-third nuclear with a target of 21 per cent of total power generation through renewable energy by 2020 increasing to 26 per cent by 2025.
