MASDAR, WORLD BANK MOU COULD PROMPT CCS INVESTMENT

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
5/24/13

The private sector arm of the World Bank and Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government-owned clean energy investment company, signed a memorandum of understanding late last week that could pave the way for more than $1 billion for large-scale clean energy technology projects including carbon capture, utilization and storage. Masdar said it signed the new cooperative effort with the International Finance Corp. to look at ways for the IFC to finance up to $1.5 billion for large-scale CCUS, solar and wind power projects, as well as other solar desalination, clean tech venture capital and private equity fund co-investment efforts.

A request for further comment was not returned by Masdar, but in a statement late last week, Masdar CEO Ahmed Al Jaber said the money could help fund efforts to bring electricity to those without. “Over one billion people worldwide have no access to electricity and another billion have only intermittent access. Utility-scale clean energy projects like the ones this agreement is exploring can play a critical role in meeting this shortfall and advancing low-carbon power around the world,” he said.

UAE Looks at EOR

While Masdar’s main mission is to meet Abu Dhabi’s goal of generating 7 percent of the emirate’s electricity from renewables by the end of the decade, the government subsidiary has in recent years has also expressed interest in CCUS and enhanced oil recovery. Subsidiary Masdar Carbon announced plans early last year to proceed with tender for an enhanced oil recovery project linked to an Emirates Steel complex in Abu Dhabi’s outskirts. That project is aimed to be the country’s first foray into CCUS, working toward the goal of a national network of capture projects from power generation and industrial operations for use in EOR.