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Progress made on Gulf renewables but ‘more to do’

By Eva Levesque
Workers check solar panels in Basra, Iraq. Renewable energy projects are growing across the Middle East Reuters
Workers check solar panels in Basra, Iraq. Renewable energy projects are growing across the Middle East
  • $75bn on table for renewables
  • 116 projects online by 2030
  • Global giants call for more action

Executives from global companies used a United Nations climate change event on Monday to urge world leaders – including those in the Gulf – to stick to commitments agreed at the Cop28 summit in Dubai to treble renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday that this goal was within reach. But companies including Amazon, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas and Spanish utility giant Iberdrola issued a statement on the sidelines of UN Climate Week in New York urging world leaders to do more.

Renewable energy in the Middle East is growing significantly, but the region is likely to stay dominated by the oil and gas industries, according to experts.

Although clean investment has increased exponentially, the amount channelled into renewables still represents only 20 percent of the allocated energy investments in the Middle East, according to the IEA.

Solar power capacity trebled from 3GW to 9GW between 2020 and 2023, while onshore wind has increased from 1GW to 2GW during the same period, data from the Energy Industries Council (EIC) shows.

The region is poised to attract more than $75 billion for renewable energy projects between 2025 and 2030, the EIC said.

Around 116 projects, including solar, wind and green hydrogen, as well as hydroelectricity, carbon capture utilisation and storage, geothermal energy and energy storage systems, should be implemented by 2030.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia are setting ambitious targets, aiming for 130GW of renewable capacity by 2030, up from around 8GW currently.

The UAE added seven renewable projects between the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, the EIC said.

By the end of this year, 13 solar power stations will be operational, adding nearly 11GW of power to the UAE’s energy mix, according to Ryan McPherson, regional director for Middle East and Africa at the EIC.

In parallel to renewables, seven new hydrocarbon production fields have been put into operation, and six other field expansion projects were completed last year, the EIC said.

This dual approach of investing in renewables and hydrocarbons is “a balancing act between producing clean energy and maintaining the region’s dominance in the global hydrocarbon market,” said Aqilah Shahruddin, the EIC report’s author.

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