Empower to provide district cooling services to Dubai Maritime City

Good morning, wonderful people. We’re experiencing an end-of-week slowdown as we roll into the weekend.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- Emirates Central Cooling Systems (Empower) has signed an agreement to provide district cooling services to Dubai Maritime City (DMC). The firm will invest

AED 450 mn (USD 122 mn) to construct two plants that will provide more than 63k refrigeration tons (RT) of cooling capacity at the maritime zone. We have chapter and verse on this story and more in the news well below.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION-

There’s no single story dominating the climate headlines this morning, but the western press is focusing heavily on the severe coast-to-coast winter storm currently battering the US. Tens of mns of Americans across 29 states are struggling with severe icing, extreme cold and sleet falls along with suspended international flights and power outages across several states. (Bloomberg | CNN | CNBC | BBC | The Guardian | The New York Times | The Washington Post | USA Today | Associated Press | WSJ)

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HAPPENING TODAY- The International Conference on Sustainable Finance and Green Fintech kicks off in Abu Dhabi. The event will bring together academics, policymakers, and regulators to evaluate current issues shaping the broad financial services sector, focusing on sustainable finance and Green Fintech. Researchers participating in the conference had the opportunity to submit their papers last year to be discussed during the conference, with a chance to be published in an academic journal. You can find more details on the agenda here.

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OVER IN COP LAND- Al Jabar sets the scene for COP28’s priorities: COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber laid out some key mitigation and adaptation priorities set to inform November’s discussions in a speech yesterday at the World Sustainable Development Summit. Mitigation priorities include tripling renewable energy capacity, doubling hydrogen production, increasing nuclear power, improving battery storage, and growing the scale and efficiency of carbon capture. Food and water will also be COP28 priorities through examining how to reduce emissions in food systems and focusing on agri-tech and sustainable water use, he said.

Doubling down on adaptation finance: COP28 “must conclude” the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and finalize an agreement on doubling adaptation finance, Al Jaber emphasized. Established through the 2015 Paris Agreement, the GGA was designed to raise awareness of the importance of adaptation, so it would be viewed with similar urgency to mitigation. Adaptation priorities also include protecting biodiversity and nature-based solutions, Al Jaber added.

The UAE-India renewables partnership is real: The UAE will explore “all opportunities” to partner with India to help develop the country’s low carbon infrastructure, Reuters quotes Al Jaber as saying. Al Jaber pointed to India’s goal of bringing 500 GW of renewable energy online within the next seven years as a “a powerful statement of intent,” the newswire reports.

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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Acwa Power, Indonesia will work on green hydrogen production: Tadawul-listed Acwa Power and state-owned fertilizers company Pupuk Indonesia have inked an agreement to develop a giga-scale green hydrogen project, Zawya reports. No further details regarding the location of the plant, or the timeline or financial details of the project have been provided.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Egypt wants to strengthen solar energy production with help from Invest India and and the International Solar Alliance: Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) CEO Hossam Heiba met with Invest India and the International Solar Alliance to discuss avenues to boost its solar energy generation as part of Egypt’s participation in the Solar X Grand Challenge, according to a statement. Launched during COP27, the initiative aims to increase solar energy deployment across Africa by upskilling and drumming up investments for the continent’s solar energy-focused startup sector.

Targets: Solar X will provide USD 15k in funding for 20 select startups, offer capacity building programs, and connect startups with global investors to help boost scalability. Interested companies can apply here before the March 31 closing date.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- The global solar industry has seen “unprecedented” price volatility recently driven by intense competition to secure profits, Bloomberg reports. While overall demand for solar power remains unaffected — and seems on track to continue growing at a record rate — solar giants have been adjusting their pricing strategies as they attempt to secure their profit margins and market share, the business information service adds. Top wafer manufacturers LONGi and TCL raised their prices by some 20% in the last few weeks, while top cell maker Tongwei hiked its prices by around 8.5%, it noted.

Polysilicon price fluctuations illustrate the volatility: The addition of new manufacturing plants late last year drove down the prices of polysilicon — the core material in solar panels — leading major producers to attempt to support prices in recent weeks by reducing sales, Bloomberg noted. Prices plummeted more than 40% over several weeks, starting December, and have since been hiked by over 50% in under a month, the outlet added.

This could be ongoing: “Volatility is expected to continue in coming months as polysilicon producers and their clients who manufacture wafers compete to gain advantage in a declining price environment,” Bloomberg quotes Wood Mackenzie research director Alex Whitworth saying.

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COME TO OUR NEXT ENTERPRISE FORUM-

We’re excited to unveil our next C-level event in Cairo: The Enterprise Exports & FDI Forum, where we will take a deep dive into two of the most critical topics affecting our community.

Interested to learn more about how Egypt is planning on drumming up foreign direct investment (FDI) for all these green hydrogen, solar and wind agreements? Exports and FDI have never been more important to Egypt’s economy — or its businesses — than in the wake of the float of the EGP and the country’s positioning as a regional renewable energy hub. We think there’s a unique chance to build an export-led economy that makes Egypt a magnet for FDI and all the benefits that will come with it.

Want to join the conversation? Drop us a line on events@enterprisemea.com.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host the Annual Gulf Ins. Forum from Monday, 27 February to Tuesday, 28 February in Dubai. The event will host panel discussions on sustainable ins. for ESG, the role of Gulf ins. companies in securing renewables, the future of ins. for Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), ins. solutions to address climate change and environmental pollution, and the banking sector’s experience in issuing green and sustainability bonds. You can register for the event here.

Qatar will host the International Conference on Climate Change and Human Rights from Tuesday, 21 February to Wednesday, 22 February in Doha. The conference will gather over 300 participants from governments, think tanks, universities, and human rights institutions to discuss and present climate mitigation and adaptation policies from a human rights perspective.

Egypt will host the CSR Forum from 2-5 March at Somabay, Hurghada. The event aims to further discussions put forth during COP27 and boost private and public sector cooperation on climate action. You can register for the event here.

Qatar will host the Earthna Summit from 8-9 March in Doha. The event will bring together industry leaders and policymakers to explore tailored solutions for the energy transition in hot climates. You can register for the event here.

The Arabia CSR Awards is accepting applications until Friday, 30 June. The award winners will be announced during a ceremony on Wednesday, 4 October.

The first MENA Solar Conference is accepting applications from published researchers specialized in PV technology until Sunday, 30 April. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority will be hosting the conference from 15 to 18 November, in conjunction with the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition and the Dubai Solar Show 2023. Researchers can submit their papers here.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

Empower set to cool Dubai Maritime City: Emirates Central Cooling Systems (Empower) has signed an agreement to provide district cooling services to Dubai Maritime City (DMC), it said in a disclosure (pdf) to the Dubai stock exchange. The firm will invest

AED 450 mn (USD 122 mn) to construct two plants that will provide more than 63k refrigeration tons (RT) of cooling capacity at the maritime zone. No details were given about the timeframe for getting the project up and running.

The details: Empower will deliver cooling services to 43 buildings in two separate phases. The first phase will supply more than 28k RT 27 buildings, and another 35k RT will be provided to the remaining buildings in the second phase.

Owned by DP World, DMC is an industrial and commercial park featuring maritime logistics services, residential properties, hotels, and retail outlets. Last year, it announced it would invest DH 140 mn to develop the zone’s infrastructure.

This is the company’s first agreement of its kind since its November IPO, which saw it sell a 20% stake on the Dubai Financial Market.

Empower had a solid 2022: Empower reported (pdf) its highest-ever revenue in 2022 and delivered a AED 1bn profit, up 7% on 2021.

The district cooling market is on the up and up: The global district cooling market was expected to rake in USD 47.64 bn by 2022 due to surging demand for DHS systems in the Middle East. The value of the MENA market is expected to reach USD 15 bn by 2027.

A new study offers low-cost hydrogen production in a wire: Silicon nanowires could be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by converting light into electricity in a potential breakthrough for low-cost green hydrogen production, according to research published by Nature earlier this month. The new findings may be the gateway to more efficient, low-cost production of green hydrogen, potentially accelerating the roll out of the sustainable fuel.

SOUND SMART- Nanowires are wires with a thickness of only a few nanometres — a metric equivalent to one billionth of a meter. Previous studies have found that a semi-liquid mixture of nanoparticles — called particle suspension reactors (PSRs) — can absorb sunlight and use the energy to convert liquid water into oxygen and hydrogen gas.

Why add silicon to the mixture? Most demonstrations of PSRs were unsuccessful in generating enough energy for water splitting given that the semi-liquid mixture is only able to absorb ultraviolet light, leaving visible and infrared light unutilized, a summary of the paper explains. Silicon however, absorbs both visible and infrared light, which means it can absorb more sunlight to produce hydrogen more effectively.

The new design is inspired by solar panel technology: Even with the addition of silicon, the nanowires may not have enough photovoltaic particles — particles that convert light into electricity — to produce hydrogen from water. This prompted the researchers to encode multiple photovoltaic cells in each silicon particle, designing the silicon nanowires to have multiple “solar cells” along their axis to produce enough power needed to split water.

Lower hydrogen production cost is crucial for the energy transition: The global and regional hydrogen economy have both been riddled with technological and infrastructure barriers. A study published last December found that steam methane reforming and coal continue to dominate the supply side of hydrogen given their low production costs of under USD 3.50 per kg compared to USD 10 per kg for solar-powered hydrogen production. This leaves little room for economic incentive to transition to a cleaner fuel supply.

Why does it matter? According to the International Energy Agency, hydrogen demand in 2021 was almost entirely met by “unabated fossil fuel-based hydrogen” — producing CO2 emissions over 900 mega tons — while low-emission hydrogen production represented less than 1% of global hydrogen production.

And we already know MENA has ambitious hydrogen development plans: In November, MEED estimated over 50 signed projects in the region would net over USD 150 bn in investments. With the increasing interest in hydrogen production in the region, new tech advancement in hydrogen production could help in improving the feasibility of mega projects, especially as most are still in the preliminary stage. Major energy companies in the region have large-scale plans in place to produce green fuel including Masdar, Adnoc, Acwa Power, and Fertiglobe.

Jeddah Islamic Port was recognized as 2022’s Best Seaport of the Year at the International Green Shipping Summit Awards in Rotterdam last week, according to a press release (pdf). The award was given to the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawanti) and recognizes the port’s sustainability, clean energy, green shipping achievements, and initiatives made to introduce environmentally-friendly maritime solutions. Mawani was also awarded the Digital Transition Award for its smart port which automates and digitizes port services using 5G technology and AI.

India wants to keep the spotlight on climate finance: India is likely to propose forming an expert G20 group to examine possible reforms to the World Bank to increase its climate lending capacity in middle and low-income countries during a G20 meeting in Bengaluru this week, Reuters reports, citing unnamed sources. Multilateral development bank (MDB) reform — which has been hotly debated in the last year — is high on India’s agenda for the meeting, one source noted. Climate finance will also be a core focus area for India during its G20 presidency, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is said to have told World Bank President David Malpass during a meeting yesterday, Reuters noted.

Will the new World Bank president prioritize climate finance? Malpass announced last week his intention to step down by June, one year before the end of his four-year appointment. He had drawn criticism in September for appearing unwilling to state that he believed fossil fuels were driving the climate crisis. His departure has opened a space for the US — which traditionally appoints the World Bank president — to propose a successor able to reorient the bank’s business model to focus on combating climate change, the Financial Times noted on Tuesday.

The National Bank of Fujairah and Yellow Door Energy inked a facility agreement to refinance solar energy projects in the UAE, according to a statement. The MoU will refinance 31 operational solar energy stations in the UAE with a total capacity of 39 MW. The exact facility value was not disclosed, but it is said to be worth “multi-mn AED”. Yellow Door Energy recently completed a USD 400 mn funding round and will use the proceeds to develop sustainable energy projects in the Middle East and Africa.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Hitachi Energy will install the first charging infrastructure for electric truck fleets in the UAE. The single location infrastructure is expected to come online by the end of 2023 and will be used by fleet operators leasing electric trucks from the transport and mobility solutions group Mohamed Hareb Al Otaiba. (Statement)
• Egypt signed a knowledge transfer MoU with Chevron to tackle methane emissions and boost efforts to decarbonize its oil and gas sector. The country joined the Global Methane Pledge in 2022, committing to reduce methane generation by at least 30% of 2020 levels by the end of the decade. (Statement)
• Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority inaugurated their Transportation Research and Innovation Pavilion (Trip) at the University of Birmingham in Dubai this week. The research facility will focus on boosting the sustainability of Dubai’s mobility sector and providing support for Dubai-based transport startups. (Wam)

Scotland’s SAE Renewables broke a milestone becoming the first tidal power company to generate 50 GW of electricity off the coast of Scotland, according to a statement released this week. By comparison, total global generation from tidal sites is less than 50% of that amount, the statement notes. The company has four 1.5 MW turbines with a combined capacity of 6 MW installed 20 meters below sea level off the Northern Scottish coast at the MeyGen site, capturing some of the strongest flows between the North Sea and the North Atlantic.

Tidal power generation uses strong tidal flows in the deep sea to generate energy. To date, tidal stream projects have a much smaller footprint than other renewables with a little over 3 MW of tidal stream installed globally, according to CNBC. Trade association Ocean Energy Europe claims that ocean energy — which includes wave energy, tidal stream technology and ocean thermal energy conversion — can provide 10% of Europe’s current electricity needs by 2050.

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British International Investment (BII) has extended USD 50 mn in funding to help Sudan’s DAL Group to shore up food security in Sudan, according to a statement (pdf). The investment will be funneled through Sudan’s Invictus Investment — a subsidiary and partner Invictus Trading which handles imports for DAL Group — to mitigate supply chain disruptions, and climate change impacts including severe droughts and flooding. The funds will allow DAL Group to import 280k metric tons of wheat annually. This is BII’s first investment in Sudan.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Japanese automaker Toyota will begin EV production in the US from 2025, with the aim to produce 1k electric SUVs by 4Q 2025. The company said it aims to produce 1 mn EVs globally by 2026 as it pushes to increase its share of the EV market. (Nikkei Asia)
• New Zealand’s damage from last week’s devastating climate change-induced Cyclone Gabrielle could cost the country over USD 8 bn. The cyclone is the biggest natural disaster to hit New Zealand this century, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has said. (Reuters)

VW workers head to the escape room to alleviate EV shift anxiety: Volkswagen is easing its workers’ job security concerns over the shift to electric vehicles with company-organized escape room games, Bloomberg reports. The Sherlock Holmes-esque games see groups of four go into detective mode as they solve riddles and navigate rooms themed on electricity and battery technology, moving from the 1860s to the present day and future scenarios.

Reskilling as opposed to axing jobs: Ford announced earlier this month that it would cut some 3.8k jobs across Europe partly owing to the transition to EVs, but Volkswagen has other plans. The German automaker plans to reskill some 22k of its employees and acclimate them to EV manufacturing.

What they said: “For many, it’s a totally new thing that the combustion engine won’t be there anymore and we have to train people for a high-voltage environment,” VW’s head of human resources said.