Gulf’s oil sheikhs tapped for green gold

Tricia Holly Davis

BRITAIN will go cap in hand to Middle East oil producers this week to seek funds to prop up the recession-hit green energy industry.
Every year Abu Dhabi, holder of 8% of the world’s oil reserves, hosts the World Future Energy Summit, a showcase event for the $3 trillion (£1.8 trillion) global clean technology sector.
UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the international business development organisation, has sent its biggest delegation to the event, which opens tomorrow, in the hope of helping British firms get cash from oil-rich backers. Last year investment in the sector collapsed by a third, according to Cleantech Group, a research firm.
“The Middle East is known for its huge oil industry but British companies are visiting the region to highlight cutting-edge sustainable energy,” said Sir Andrew Cahn, UKTI’s chief executive.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, will also be attending the summit.
Abu Dhabi has the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund after China, estimated to be worth $700 billion. It may have been built up through oil but in recent years the emirate has invested billions in an effort to transform itself into a global hub of green technology.
It has also invested its money abroad, backing big projects such as the London Array, the wind farm proposed off the Thames estuary.
The government is hoping that it and other wealthy Arab investors can plug the financing hole. “Given the liquidity in the Middle East, the region is a key source of finance for the future energy sector and is helping to fill the gap left by the recession,” said Simon Currie of Norton Rose, the law firm.
Dean Cook, head of I-CanNano, a London nano-technology company, is heading to Abu Dhabi in search of capital. His firm’s technology can be used to make lightweight plastics to replace heavier steel car frames. “We’re very excited about the prospects in the Middle East,” he said.
Plumina, a Newcastle-based developer of low-energy street lamps, landed a multi-million pound contract to install more efficient highway lighting in Qatar.
Tim Cantle-Jones, the chief executive, has already raised $2m from Middle East investors to develop heat controls that allow LED lights to withstand extreme desert temperatures. He hopes to get fresh funding to build two manufacturing plants, one of which will be in Britain.
The irony of petrodollars funding a green industry is not lost on investors. “It’s not normal for an oil economy that is thriving to go into renewable energy,” said Azhar Iqbal Qureshiof Al Sarya, a Qatari investor who over the next three years will put $700m into green businesses.
“The Arab world realises that we need to change our image and look for new business opportunities. We have trillions of dollars to spend — it can’t all go toward oil.”