Solar Hype » Masdar Initiative’s $2 Billion Solar Investment

Masdar Initiative’s $2 Billion Solar Investment

06.02.08 | No Comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Abu Dhabi’s clean technology venture–the Masdar Initiative–has announced a $2

billion investment in thin-film photovoltaic solar technology.Phase one of the project involves an investment of $600 million, which will fund the development of two manufacturing facilities.The first plant, to be based in Erfurt, Germany, will be operational by Q3 2009. A second facility in Abu Dhabi will begin initial production by Q2 2010. The combined annual production capacity of these two sites will be 210 megawatts.

Applied Materials Inc. has struck a deal with Masdar to bring the first major photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing capabilities to the Middle East with three of its turnkey lines, dubbed SunFab.

Abu Dhabi is the capital and second most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after Dubai.

The Masdar Initiative is a HUGE step in the right direction for renewable energy, and has been pushing solar technology to new hights for the last couple years. Now it’s really putting things into high gear with a serious runs of investments and projects.

2 Billion bucks is a heck of a lot of money in my book (and in most people’s book I image), and dwarfs most similar investments being made anywhere else on the planet, and it’s just the starting point for the project. Other countries could learn a thing or 10 from this sort of effort.

Masdar City (the initiative’s flagship project, which began construction in February), is a bold and optimistic idea if there ever was one. The plan is to build a city completely free of fossil fuel use, zero emition, completely “green” city. If they pull off even 10% of the goals for the project it will be a massive breakthrough in urban design and hopefully show other parts of the world that such things can be done, and done well. I’m hopeful that it will succeed at least to some degree…not sure if they’ll meet ALL of their goals, but only time will tell on that really. Check out the video over here to see just what the plan for the city is.

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