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GSN Risk Grade – D↓5 Overview Politics: An Islamic Republic was declared in 1979 after the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Supreme Leader (Rahbar) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits at the top of the velayat-e faqih (guardianship or governance of the Islamic jurist) system, his power (in theory) checked by an elected president and parliament; conflicts between theocracy and democracy dictate much of the internal dynamic.

The Baghdad government has signed a strategic agreement with Masdar, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, to develop at least 2GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Iraq.

Shopping and leisure developer Majid Al-Futtaim has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Yellow Door Energy for the supply of up to 6.2MW of solar power.

Government plans for the procurement of two utility-scale solar projects are still on track, but implementation and commercial operation timelines are expected to be delayed by a year, the Oman Daily Observer reported on 13 May, quoting offtaker Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP)’s parent company Nama Group.

Finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan on 24 April said the kingdom could make huge savings by replacing liquid fuel with gas and renewables in domestic consumption. The displacement of liquids, “would represent savings for the government of about SR800bn [$213.3bn] over the next ten years which can be utilised for investment,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

A consortium led by local renewable energy (RE) champion Acwa Power has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Saudi Power Procurement Company, to take output from the 1.5GW Sudair Solar PV plant in Sudair Industrial City. The project involves an investment of some SR3.4bn ($907m) and comes with significant backing from the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Total has agreed in principle to invest in major Iraqi oil and gas developments, providing some welcome relief for Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s government. The French major’s move was interpreted as signalling that Iraq could mobilise serious western investment to reduce dependence on Iranian energy imports and overcome its poor record of gas-flaring – allowing combined cycle power plants that operate below capacity to replace electricity imported from the Islamic Republic.

Dubai Holding has signed an agreement with Itochu Corporation, Hitachi Zosen Inova, Besix Group and Tech Group to develop an energy-from-waste facility, which will process up to 45% of Dubai’s current level of municipal waste.

Unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear plant has started commercial operations, according to a statement from the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation on 6 April.

The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) has granted a licence to operate the second of four nuclear reactors being developed at Barakah in Abu Dhabi, a senior FANR official said on 9 March. Preparations for unit one’s commercial operations are at an advanced stage, with a declaration of commercial operations expected soon. Also expected is fuel loading in unit two at Barakah, with a testing phase of around one year to follow.

In another major statement of intent about using renewables in energy-intensive sectors previously dominated by hydrocarbons, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) on 18 January started to supply Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) with 560,000MWh/yr of solar power generated at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park (MBR Solar Park). Branding was attached to a project that gives Dubai a notable world first by producing aluminium using solar energy: EGA said the product would be marketed under the name CelestiAL.

Abu Dhabi has a new powerful council, created by presidential law in late December, which will oversee all financial, investment, economic, petroleum and natural resource affairs in the emirate. The Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs (SCFEA) will supervise the functioning and performance of what the Emirates News Agency (WAM) called the “relevant entities”: the Department of Finance (DoF), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), Mubadala, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and ADQ (previously known as Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company, established 2018) have been named so far.

Most of the industrial hydrogen currently available is produced from natural gas through a steam methane reforming process; this is known as ‘blue hydrogen’. In contrast, ‘green hydrogen’ is produced by applying electric currents generated from renewable energy sources to water, in the process breaking H2O into its hydrogen and oxygen components.

The first unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi’s Al-Dhafra region reached its full power generating capacity of 1.4GW of electricity, as part of its power ascension testing phase, the government said on 7 December. 

Ras Al-Khaimah has prequalified 20 companies, out of over 80 applications, for its first aggregated solar tender, RAK Municipality Energy Efficiency and Renewables Office executive director Andrea Di Gregorio told S&P Platts on 8 December.