Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond will travel to Abu Dhabi next week to sign a landmark deal on renewables with state-backed green energy developer Masdar.
The deal, which will be signed next Tuesday at the World Future Energy Summit, will see Scotland work with Masdar on the development of green energy products.
“This landmark deal rightly puts Scotland firmly at the forefront of the green energy revolution,” says Salmond. “This is the first agreement of its kind between Masdar and an individual nation and will work towards developing further university research into renewable energy.”
Salmond was in Abu Dhabi six weeks ago meeting with Masdar CEO Sultan Al Jaber and visiting the organisation’s ‘city in the desert’ development.
Out of that meeting has come the agreement announced today, and further deals are expected next week, including new direct air routes by Middle Eastern airlines into and out of Scotland.
Scotland’s efforts under the deal – although not yet well defined – will be led by the Energy Technology Partnership, an alliance of 12 Scottish universities with around 250 academics and 600 researchers undertaking energy research.
Sultan Al Jaber says the partners will work together on a number of renewable energy initiatives.
“We discussed a number of areas of collaboration and I look forward to working closely with [First Minister Salmond] over the coming months to move these ideas forward. Scotland is a leading player in the renewable energy field and we are delighted to combine our knowledge and experience through this mutual and beneficial partnership.”