Israel & Abu Dhabi compete on renewable energy targets

Israel and the emirate of Abu Dhabi, on opposite sides of the Middle East, have issued new targets for the percentage of energy they'll generate from renewable sources by 2020.

Israel's government has set a target of producing 10 percent of the country's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The decision was made by the socio-economic cabinet, headed by Finance Minister Roni Bar-On. The panel also set an interim target of 5 percent by 2014.

The Negev and Arava regions will become "national preference" regions for renewable energy, according to the plan put forward by Minister of National Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Ben-Eliezer's plan calls for the construction of 10 solar power stations in the Negev and Arava between 2010-2020.

Israel has already initiated a process of building solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants at Ashalim, in the Negev desert, that are expected to be operational by 2012 (see Sunday Solar powers Israeli kibbutzim).

Israel currently produces only 1% of its electricity from renewable sources, while 69% is produced from coal, 23% from natural gas and 7% from diesel fuel or fuel oil, according to reports.

Meanwhile, today, Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, said renewable energy sources will make up seven percent of its total energy production by
2020.

"The government of Abu Dhabi has announced its commitment to (the plan that) renewable energy sources will make up at least seven percent of its total energy production capacity by 2020," the UAE's official WAM news agency reported.

The UAE is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, and the home of the Masdar Initiative (view coverage), which is building what is planned to be a zero-carbon city, Masdar City (see Abu Dhabi, the next cleantech hub?).

This week, Abu Dhabi is hosting the World Future Energy Summit, which is to address ways to harness renewable energy and cut pollution.

The Cleantech Group partnered with the World Future Energy Summit to develop the conference's clean technology track (more information here).

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