Ewec to auction clean energy certificates

Registration process to participate and tender submissions will close on December 14, says the utility

The Abu Dhabi skyline. Ewec owns and sells clean energy certificates for solar and nuclear power generated in the emirate. Bloomberg

State-owned utility Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec) will conduct a clean energy certificate auction for the fourth quarter.

The registration process to participate and tender submissions has opened and will close on December 14, the company said on Thursday.

Ewec owns and sells all clean energy certificates for solar and nuclear-generated electricity in Abu Dhabi, supporting the UAE’s climate change goals.

The tradeable digital certificates, which verify the source from which energy was generated, are in units of one megawatt per hour each and conform to the International Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) standard, a tracking measure used around the world.

“The scheme is attracting an increasing number of Abu Dhabi based entities to embrace the opportunity to support the UAE in achieving its sustainability goals,” Ewec chief executive Othman Al Ali said.

“Ewec is proudly playing a role through the CEC scheme to decarbonise Abu Dhabi-based entities in line with the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.”

Last month, Emirates Global Aluminium, the UAE's largest industrial company outside the oil and gas sector, said it purchased clean energy certificates for 1.1 million megawatt hours of electricity supplied by Ewec.

The UAE, Opec’s third-largest oil producer, is pursuing goals to reduce its carbon footprint and became the first country in the Middle East to set a net-zero target last year.

The country plans to invest $160 billion in clean and renewable energy sources over the next three decades.

It is building the Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai with a five-gigawatt capacity. Abu Dhabi, which is developing a two-gigawatt solar plant in its Al Dhafra region, has set a target of 5.6 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity by 2026.