1. ESIA in the News - The Dawn Of A New Energy Era - Vahid Fotuhi Chairman of the Emirates Solar Industry Association (ESIA). The year 2011 has been memorable for the Middle East. But while all the media attention has been focused on the unfolding political changes, a more subtle shift is taking place in the region's energy sector. Historically, the Middle East has been focused on the extraction and exportation of fossil fuels. But as oil and gas reservoirs start to show their age and as new fields become harder and more expensive to develop, the Middle East is starting to look for alternative forms of energy to satisfy its growing energy needs. Quote of the Week: Solar power's "elephant in the room" - " Solar power generation is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. This year, solar module shipments will exceed 7.8 gigawatts globally. Taking an average output of 200 Watts per module, this represents 39,000,000 modules per year with an annual growth rate of 30 percent expected over the next several years. " - Solar Engineering and Manufacturing Association president Matthew Holzmann 2.Solar Energy News Brief - - UAE: World's First Solar Building Exporting Energy Shelved by Masdar
Sept. 16, 2011 (Bloomberg) -- Masdar shelved plans for the world's first building that makes more energy than it consumes, a year after the financial crisis forced the Abu Dhabi company to step back from setting up the first carbon-neutral city.
The Abu Dhabi state-owned company said it's evaluating a different design for its headquarters than the one selected in 2008 from Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture for a 100,000 square-meter (1.1 million square-foot) structure equipped with enough solar panels to cover four soccer fields.
The headquarters, planned in the capital city, "will now be built in phases, in line with market demand and economic conditions at the time," Abu Dhabi-based Masdar said in an e- mailed response to questions. Officials declined to say whether the revised design would still allow for the headquarters to generate more power than it uses.
Masdar, promoter of the Middle East's most ambitious plan to develop renewable energy, accepted its latest setback after the financial crisis curbed Abu Dhabi's ambitions for its $22 billion government-funded venture. Set up in 2006, it was to build Masdar City, a carbon-neutral town in which students and companies pursued renewable energy projects.
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Sept. 7, 2011 (American Progress) - The U.S. media is abuzz over last week's bankruptcy of thin-film solar manufacturer Solyndra LLC, with some conservative politicians trying to use the demise of the start-up to argue against federal financing for green energy. But the Chinese media is focusing on a far more important solar power development: two major energy plans that will lay the policy roadmap for China's clean energy development over the next decade.The first is the 12th Five Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development, covering 2011 to 2015, which focuses on sources of renewable energy such as hydropower, wind, solar, and biomass. The second is the Emerging Energy Industry Development Plan, covering 2011 to 2020, which also includes nuclear energy, clean coal, smart grid, and alternative fuel for new-energy vehicles.
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Solar Feedstock: Does the Middle East Have What It Takes? Sept 15,2011 (Fuel Flex) - This year has brought little relief to the polysilicon glut. The combination of China's emergence as a cheap manufacturer and the paring back of Italian and German solar subsidies in the wake of Europe's financial crises has been detrimental to the solar manufacturing industry. The entry of Chinese firms - totaling 90,000 tons of production capacity in 2011 - has caused the spot price of polysilicon to drop from $500/kg in 2008 to $50/kg in Q2 2011. The slump in demand among the solar industry's largest market, Europe, sealed the polysilicon industry's fate. Yet as the glut was emerging, GCC mega-projects inked EPC contracts to develop and export the overstocked solar material. In 2010, polysilicon production facility Qatar Solar Technologies was launched as a joint venture between Qatar Foundation and SolarWorld AG; it plans to manufacture 3600 tons of polysilicon for export annually. Saudi followed soon after with a polysilicon project of its own: Polysilicon Technology Co., a joint venture between Saudi Mutajadedah Energy Co and South Korea's KCC Corp, signed a deal to construct a manufacturing plant that will cost a total of $1.2-$1.5 billion by 2017. In Dubai, UAE-based MBM Solar Holdings Inc. plans to build a $400 million polysilicon plant to compliment the country's downstream activities.
- ESIA "Members Only" News, Research and Leads Extranet - GCC/MENA region solar project pipeline - contact info and project profile
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Emirates Solar Industry Association
Festival Tower, 19th Floor
PO Box 36605
Festival City, Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 293 2565
Fax: +971 4 293 2525
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