Masdar News

Masdar driving alternative energy development, CEO tells Wired

07 Jun 2020
Clean Energy, Insights

Masdar has helped to make clean energy as competitive as conventional power sources, and is pioneering new technologies, including hydrogen and battery storage, Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi told Wired

“When we started, renewable energy was considered to be an expensive way of generating power. We’re not alone, but [we’ve helped] progress the penetration of clean technologies and also a reduction in the cost of generation,” Al Ramahi said in an interview. “Clean energy power generation is as competitive—and in certain cases more competitive—as conventional power generation.”

In total, Masdar projects have an electricity production capacity of around 5 gigawatts, covering onshore and offshore wind power, solar photovoltaics (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), and thermal energy storage, Wired reported. 

“Today, solar and onshore wind are two of the cheapest ways of generating power, but now we’re looking at new ways of generating power that today are expensive,” Al Ramahi told the technology magazine. “Companies like Masdar are able to demonstrate, pilot, and develop such technologies to make them more feasible—like hydrogen, like battery storage.”

Today, Masdar’s research and development focuses on four themes—energy generation, energy storage, sustainable urban mobility, and water desalination powered by renewable energy, Wired said, highlighting a pilot scheme to test the use of molten salt as a means to store thermal energy.

“We’re willing to put in our own money to develop these technologies, promote these technologies, and eventually we can be the catalyst,” Al Ramahi said. “We will prove to the world that these technologies function.”