Headline:
Fostering Future Green Energy : Scientific Director Carlo Rubbia visits MASDAR in the United Arab Emirates
On the occasion of the opening of the largest solar power plant in the Middle East, IASS Scientific Director Prof. Carlo Rubbia has paid a three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.
On 17th March the first Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant in the region, Shams 1, has been inaugurated, reflecting the Emirates' commitment to diversify their energy production and reduce the UAE's carbon emissions: the 100MW plant, when fully operational, will displace approximately 175,000 tons of CO2 per year, that is to say an equivalent to planting 1.5 million trees or taking 15,000 cars off the road.
Covering an area of 2.5 square kilometres or 285 football fields, Shams 1 is a testimony to the UAE's increasing engagement in developing renewable energies. Prof. Rubbia welcomed this achievement as a strong sign of progress towards sustainable development and underlined the importance of the pioneering vision supporting this first realization. He further indicated that this first project will certainly be beneficial to the future development of similar initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa region, which have an enormous renewable energy potential to harness the abundant resources of the sun, thus generating economic and social progress.
In a series of meetings held at MASDAR, the UAE's centre of excellence for advancing academic research in clean energy and sustainable technologies - where Prof. Rubbia also held a seminar for the faculty and students - the IASS activities and vision for a sustainable future were widely discussed.
