Economics of renewable energy and sustainable development in the GCC with a focus on UAE

الملخص EN

An economic perspective to the sustainability goals of a country importantly rests on the development of renewable energy sources as a means to achieve growth.

Empirical findings recorded in official reports and related research studiesinclude interesting observations regarding renewable energy deployment.

This research paper discusses the varied global observations made by researchers, marked by a general consensus on the prevailing issues.

There has been worldwide growth in installed capacity, power generation, innovative technologies, and R & D in the field of renewables, though with regional differences.

As part of global initiatives, the last decade has seen growing awareness in the GCC region of the need to procure alternative sources of energy.

The policy aim of achieving sustainable development by using a progressively larger share of renewables in the energy mix is based on growth strategies such as economic diversification that reduces dependence on finite reserves of hydrocarbons, improved energy efficiency and imposing curbs on wasteful consumption of energy in the GCC nations.High energy consumption is one of the main concerns of the GCC countries.

Due to the continually growing energy demand and depleting natural reserves of fossil fuels, some of the GCC countries have become net energy importing countries.

Hence, the self-sufficiency of these countries in terms of fuel supply has decreased drastically over the last few decades, the main reason being the distortion of the energy balance.

Renewable energy will help restore the energy balance, diversify the energy mix, reduce the strain on national funds for importation of fuel, improve self-sufficiency and most importantly reduce the ecological footprints.

Subsidy reform is proposed to be one of the main pathways that can help the nation achieve the goals of sustainable energy development from an economic standpoint, while attracting investors to fund renewable energy projects is a good strategy for speeding up the transition process.

Educating the nation’s growing population is the way forward to promote efficiency in energy use, encourage the generation of innovative ideas and technologies, and build awareness on these important issues that have global impacts.