In recent years, the demand for energy in the MENA has risen significantly due to the region’s rapid population growth, economic development and urbanization. The power demand in the MENA is expanding between 3% and 8% annually, which is above the global average. A reality that has spurred the formation of a vibrant market for energy solutions, which has the potential to drive economic diversification and create new jobs in the Arab world in the future.

However, many Arab countries still lack some of the basic elements needed to enable the development of new energy markets. In order to reap the full economic, social and environmental benefits of these budding markets, more Arab countries need to improve the legal frameworks regulating the “green economy,” ensure the availability of funding for “green enterprises” and develop individuals with the “green expertise” needed to create and implement such energy solutions.

Taka Solutions, a Dubai-based startup in the energy sector, is a prime example of a “green enterprise” that is trying to deploy innovative energy solutions that support the MENA’s economic development in a sustainable way. In the following interview, Charles Blaschke, Managing Director of Taka Solutions, shares how his startup is trying to promote energy efficiency in the region, while also educating their clients and the public about the importance of responsible consumption.

1. What is Taka Solutions?

Taka Solutions is a Dubai-based ESCO – Energy Services Company – that finances, develops and implements solutions aimed at enhancing customers’ energy efficiency and reducing energy-related expenditures providing both economic and environmental benefits.

We have delivered; audits to 350 buildings in the UAE, over 5 million sq.ft. worth of retrofits and an average of 29% energy savings. Taka Solutions is building a new energy future for the MENA and the world.

2. How is Taka Solutions trying to change the perception of energy consumption in the MENA region?

To achieve the region’s energy efficiency targets in the buildings sector, a global “race to the moon” approach is needed to launch deep building retrofits. The private sector’s effort towards energy efficiency in buildings is crucial to offset building energy demand growth while still providing comfort, improved quality of life and reduced energy/operational costs.

Greater effort to improve global understanding of energy efficiency services and energy performance contracting therefore seems be a priority. Taka Solutions, is trying to change the peoples’ perception by findings new and simpler ways to explain the benefits of energy efficiency.

Our business itself is built around an innovative paid-from-savings model, benefiting building owners, operators, end-users and finally the planet. Sharing is caring!

Making energy, efficiency and people buildings and homes easier to understand, and giving them the information in a clear and concise way will help them learn about their impact, consumption and how to reduce it. Buildings and homes represent 40% of the worlds carbon output, and they can easily save 50% using readily, easy, cheap technology. If everybody did this the world would meet the COP21 targets and more.

3. What are Taka Solutions’ objectives in the MENA region? How are you trying to position yourself in the region’s energy sector?

In a few bullet points, Taka Solutions objectives are:

• To make of energy efficiency services a simple and seamless user experience.
• To shift energy efficiency’s current reputation of “hidden fuel” to “first fuel”
• To leverage technology, engineering and finance in an integrated solution addressing our customers’ energy needs efficiently.
• To create value for society, business and people
• To make the biggest impact by reaching more customers, and helping them save more, with deeper retrofits and technology, not just the cheap and easy stuff

We really want to refine and focus our energy to plan the launch into new markets to reach more people. We position ourselves as a global and trusted energy efficiency partner.

4. Are Taka Solutions’ internal objectives aligned with any national, regional or international energy frameworks? (For example, IRENA’s Pan-Arab Renewable Energy Strategy 2030 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda)

International organizations’ policies and objectives are part of Taka Solutions’ DNA. Not only are our objectives aligned, but we also share the same vision of a world where energy needs are met without negative impact.

As a company, we forged a global vision of the challenges to develop a diversified energy mix and manage resources, buildings as well as networks to achieve sustainable growth. In the United Arab Emirates, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan and Kuwait, we have seen a rapid development of the urban environment as well as governments creating entities or investment funds pushing energy efficiency across buildings and new renewable energy infrastructure.

Over time and with tangible results being published, private customers are showing more and more interest in taking part in this clean energy transition. Taka Solutions is therefore at the forefront of this transition and making these international policies and frameworks a reality.

We are facing the world’s biggest challenges head on, with a solution that works. This is why most global and local governments around the world have policies and programs around sustainability, energy, and efficiency, of which we are not only aligned with, but solving without manipulation or intervention, using raw engineering and business.

5. As you mentioned in an article in Arabian Business, Taka Solutions focuses on promoting efficient energy use. With this in mind, do you believe that countries in the MENA region should investment more in energy efficiency or renewable energy production?

There are three levels in the electricity value chain, generation, distribution and consumption. For the MENA to remain a central player in the global energy industry we believe that the MENA countries should diversify their investment on each level, but will gain the most from efficiency.

This is because it is the easiest, cheapest and most scalable, because every single person can make an impact. If each of the 5,000,000 people in the UAE reduced their energy at home and work by 50% (which is very possible and even easy), then the countries energy consumption would reduce by 30%. That is a HUGE impact.

On the generation side, in rapidly developing cities, the need to satisfy growing electricity demand offers an opportunity to deploy energy efficiency services and renewables from the outset to ensure the development does not consume, or require large generation. This allows for renewables to be made to serve these.

On the distribution side, incorporating a higher share of renewables and supporting the electrification of end-use sectors will require a more flexible electricity system. Existing regulatory and market frameworks are currently supporting the system-wide flexibility benefits of certain technology options, such as smart metering and feed in tariffs.

On the demand side, increasing the efficient use of electricity can help reduce investments both in generation and at the system level investigating opportunities to avoid the unnecessary use of electricity and to improve the efficiency of remaining generation should be a first step in any effort to transition towards a sustainable energy system.

The cost of more efficient technologies on the end-use side are often more than made up by savings making the investment in energy efficiency more attractive than investments in generation. In the end, energy efficiency can free up the same amount of energy than new renewables only at a fraction of the cost.

6. With one of the youngest and fastest-growing populations in the world, the MENA region will inevitable need to generate more energy as its population grows. Keeping this in mind, how do you think government and renewable energy providers can ensure that they are efficiently using the energy they are producing?

By;

1. First, reducing the existing consumption and demand using energy efficiency and performance standards.

2. Second, ensuring that all new development is efficient through good code, and strong enforcement.

3. Third, requiring all new generation to be clean and renewable – but without too much intervention and support, to ensure sustainable business that does not fail without subsidies.

Indeed, growing cities will have to match energy demand with supply and the way the infrastructure is designed, built, operated and maintained can yield different energy performance outcomes. Compact urban development, energy-efficient buildings, public transport, low-carbon end-use fuels, distributed renewable resources generation and smart energy networks all offer a vast and largely untapped potential to effectively achieve the MENA countries’ energy related targets.

For the past 3 years, governmental entities led the way on the critical tasks of adopting, monitoring and enforcing building energy codes for new power plants or buildings construction and a global uptake of retrofits in existing power generation assets. These efforts have included the development of local energy and awareness programs supporting the private sector, as well as end-users’ involvement, which is a great step in ensuring the efficiency of the energy system.

The results of the region’s first renewable energy production assets and energy performance contracts are a huge step in developing the understanding and confidence in these innovative business models.

7. What criteria were used to judge the participants of the GCC edition of The Venture competition and what aspects of the Taka Solutions business model led you to win the GCC final?

The five criteria that were used to evaluate the participants of The Venture were:

• Market opportunity and size
• Business Model & organizational strategy
• Skills, Experience and commitment of the Team
• Social impact
• Scalability

The two main drivers that led to the Taka win were;

1. Paid from savings model that could have a big impact in solving the world’s biggest challenge, with aligned interest between Taka, the customer and the environment, where Taka bares all risk and is only paid once we save

2. The B2C mobile app and business model that would help to reach down to the individual level, and help people save, the ones who can and want to save, and need to save.

Cities are at the heart of the decarbonization and energy efficiency quest. With more than half of global population and about 80% of the world’s GDP in 2016, cities account for about two-thirds of primary energy demand and 70% of total energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Continuing on the current trends, carbon emissions from energy use in cities, including indirect emissions from power and cooling/heating production would increase by 50%. Hence the market opportunity, size, business model, social impact and scalability of Taka Solutions’ business model.

Finally, and most importantly, the team was recognized for its expertise and commitment towards contributing to a world where energy needs are met without negative impact. A company is only as strong as the people behind it.

8. What gaps currently exist in the MENA’s energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors?

The biggest gaps are the understanding from customers about the potential or energy efficiency, and specifically the paid from savings model and their inability to make smart, informed decisions to saving and reducing their energy consumption, while getting new technology, engineering, finance and a better building that is better for their tenants.

If we look at renewable energy strictly as a means of large scale power generation and energy efficiency as small-medium scale services then the gaps are huge. Renewables being a tangible product, they benefitted from a seamless deployment and gained popularity. On the contrary, energy efficiency is a service aimed at uncovering a hidden potential which is more complex to show.

Despite this apparent gap, we also see growing synergies between energy efficiency and renewable energy especially in the building, transport and district energy systems sectors.

Net zero-energy building (NZEB) projects are getting more and more consensus and we have recently offered consultancy services for a few of these in the UAE. The energy efficiency of the building is ensured from the design stage and the remaining needs for energy are satisfied with renewables.

9. What challenges do you face as startup in the energy sector in the MENA region? What can be done to eliminate these challenges?

Our biggest challenge is educating people about their impact on the environment by not using energy efficiently and the magnitude of savings and positive impact they can have by saving energy. Another challenge we face is how we manage our resources to achieve a global impact and create the greatest capacity to reach people effectively to help them save more.

Finding qualified and experienced employees, partners, contractors and vendors is a huge challenge now, and will get bigger over time.

We are looking to spread the word around different educational institutions. By taking part through global conversations and through combined teamwork, and experts in a wide variety of areas, we can team up by cutting and making our presence be known globally through platforms such as the Venture.

10. What role do you think that startups should play in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors in the MENA region?

We might say that the recipe to Taka Solutions’ success includes adaptability, research, ingenuity, and the fearlessness to go against the pack to find new and better ways to navigate the industry. Startups are generally highly adaptable and every idea is valued and considered, making of them very agile, quick and customer centric entities.

Startups can therefore adapt their offers much more easily than big corporations which have defined range of offers and capabilities. Providing innovative, out of the box solutions is where startups can challenge the status-quo.

11. What should the key stakeholders in the MENA’s startup ecosystem do to promote energy-focused entrepreneurship in the region?

The energy industry, and especially the energy efficiency sector, is still in a growth phase, creating or reinforcing existing associations gathering the different players in the market would help shape best practices and promote energy-focused entrepreneurship in the region.

Creating an infrastructure that would help small companies support larger companies with their services, and get contracts, along with secured payments would make a very large positive impact.

12. What trends do you see emerging in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors and where would you advise foreign venture capitalists and angel investors to invest?

Foreign venture capitalists have already understood the attractivity of the energy efficiency and renewable energy businesses. We already see large Groups entering the MENA looking for partners already having an experience in the region, enabling them to take part without having to start from scratch.

For a riskier, but very lucrative investment would be in technology deployment and R&D in existing energy efficiency firms of the region. There are many hardware, software, equipment, technology and processes that can be used in projects in the region that are not available.

To have the venture funding to create and deploy these (through existing contracts like we have) would make a low-risk investment with a huge potential return. A secure investment would be the newly formed green funds financing renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Individuals and Businesses around the globe are benefiting from the wide set of opportunities the internet is creating. However, these benefits are not shared equally, in that individuals with high incomes, high skills and in specific geographic locations reap the economic gains disproportionately. Countries or regions that are more endowed with these characteristics are more advantaged in terms of digital dividends, which explains one factor into the ever-rising inequality between and within countries.

The new World Bank regional report; “Reaping digital Dividends” suggests on the other hand that this doesn't have to be the case. It argues that digital dividends can reduce poverty and produce shared economic growth in the Europe and Central Asian region (ECA), if the right policies are implemented. The report also states that because the internet is the main driver of technological change, States must effectively adapt to its disruptions to achieve efficiency gains.

Some of the ways to adapt after process and product innovation produces displacement effects in the economy is to allow the spread of new technologies by supporting those who lose their jobs to find another, rather than protecting jobs in the first place and limiting innovation. Moreover, to target bottom-up technological progress by improving access to the internet and big data rather than top-down monitoring of information.

The report illustrates for example that ECA countries in western economies hold less shares or e-commerce sales in GDP than the USA and Japan, not because of weak internet access or imagination, but rather a lack of confidence in the financial system, high levels of cyber security and strong regulations. In comparison, the report highlights a different set of reasons in the eastern part of the region, namely Central Asia and the Caucasus. Landlocked countries with distributed populations face higher costs for internet expansion, as weak internet relations with neighboring countries make them susceptible to internet transit provider's high price demands. Turkmenistan, for instance only endows three connecting fibers, while Armenia's borders with many of its neighbors are completely cut-off due to obliterated political ties. In particular, over 80% of Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Georgia spend 10% of their household income to afford basic mobile plans.

Nevertheless, the report describes that despite key challenges, ECA countries occupy an important position to reap digital dividends. Governments in the east can implement the successful policies the new EU members put in place, to improve or even outperform the richer economies of the west in terms of internet access. Their closeness to China can also foster strong e-commerce possibilities and relationships. Moreover, improved internet infrastructure in terms of speed and cost can lower the disadvantages of barely populated regions. Russian-speaking countries can even take advantage of economics of scales in content development or online freelancing.

On the other hand, governments in the west can attract important ICT intensive investments from their high level internet infrastructure, which could lead to the long over due creation of the Googles and Facebooks of Europe. They can also capitalize on digital technologies to include older workers into the labor market which would bring about a dynamic market that would otherwise fall fatal to aging population phenomenons.

The report highlights the importance of International Connectivity. Concerning the connection between Europe and the Middle East, the report talk about Europe-Persia Express Gateway, which is a terrestrial cable linking Europe with the Middle East, which was achieved in 2012. It goes from Frankfurt, across Eastern Europe then to Russia, Azerbaijan then through Iran to the Persian Gulf then to Barka, in Oman. It offers an alternative to the Red Sea route for linking Europe to Asia.

Middle East Business

LBS expert reports on the knowns and unknowns of Brexit so far  

Dubai, UAE, 05 June 2017 - The cloud of uncertainty hanging over the British economy won’t lift until March 2019 at the earliest, according to Linda Yueh, Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School.

The European principle that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, means that uncertainty is likely to prevail, she wrote in a Forbes blog.

Unravelling international treaties takes time: “Less than three years from the vote to departure seems fairly quick,” she said. “But, in another sense, it’s rather a long time to know where everything stands in post-Brexit Britain and an EU that excludes the UK.”

Gradually, the picture of uncertainty is changing. Since Article 50 was triggered on 29 March 2017, more details have emerged. Existing outside the EU won’t be easy or without cost. The UK could face tariffs on EU imports and exports, for instance, when it leaves the EU Single Market.

“We know that Britain will prioritise the ability to control migration,” Yueh said. “British Prime Minister Theresa May believes that Britain will not have unfettered access to the EU Single Market. Rejecting the free movement of people also means the Norway model of being in the European Economic Association is out.

“May wants the UK to negotiate its own trade deals, so that excludes being part of the EU Customs Union, which requires members to have a common external tariff with the rest of the world.”

A piecemeal approach to the single market isn’t favoured by European policymakers, Yueh said. “It may violate World Trade Organisation rules.”

One of Britain’s priorities is to secure tariff-free access for exporting cars manufactured in the UK, she added. The cost of manufacturing a car in Britain could increase by £2,370 (more than 10% per vehicle), according to a PA Consulting Group report on the impact of Brexit.

Yueh asked whether a deal could be done to aid the UK’s biggest manufactured goods export. The wait to find out may take some time. 

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Middle East Business

Organisations in EMEA with advanced API management processes experience up to 45 percentbetter business results than those with basic API management. This is the major finding from a new global study, APIs: Building a Connected Business in the App Economy, commissioned by CA Technologies among 1,770 senior executives, including 695 in EMEA. Some 45 percent more organisations report an improvement in customer experience moving from basic to advanced API management, while customer satisfaction increases by an additional 33 percent and IT costs fall by a further 31 percent. Respondents in advanced organisations are also more than twiceas likely to express confidence about differentiating themselves from competitors (82 percent versus 36 percent).

“APIs are a cornerstone of business agility, enabling organisations to drive rapid, continuous improvement in customer experience and be ‘Built to Change’,” HishamMalak, Director of Operationas, CA MENA.This research makes a compelling case for API use—and more importantly, for having a sophisticated approach to managing the APIs. By adopting an advanced, full lifecycle approach to API management, organisations see significant improvements in customer experience, customer satisfaction and competitive differentiation.”

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the central nervous system of the app economy. By allowing pieces of software to communicate with each other, they provide ready-made, universal access to whatever functionality an organisation needs to deliver. The growing use of APIs calls for a formalised approach to API management, which encompasses creating, securing, managing, and optimising APIs throughout their lifecycle, and at enterprise scale.

With this in mind, the study’s API management maturity model assesses how far organisations have implemented the tools and technologies, systems and processes, and the capabilities required for full API lifecycle management.

Other Key Findings:

• 93 percent of advanced API management users witness an improvement in customer experience compared to 64 percent for basic users;
• 86 percent of advanced API management users report an improvement in their leverage of third-party developer innovation compared to 68 percent for basic users;
• Advanced API management users experience a 40 percent increase in customer satisfaction compared to 30 percent for basic users;
• Advanced API management users experience a 38 percent reduction in IT-related costs compared to 29 percent for basic users

Conversational commerce

The study also shows that 69 percent of EMEA organisations report an improvement in their ability to leverage third-party developer innovation using APIs. By opening up and sharing select applications with third-parties, these organisations are absorbing data from partners and adding essential services to their apps—without having to write new code. Among these innovations are ‘conversational commerce’ services that enable consumers to interact with brands or aggregated services using chat, messaging or other natural-language interfaces. For example, instructing your mobile device using natural language to book a flight and aggregating different services together to book a preferred hotel, restaurant or taxi partner at the destination.

Widespread API adoption and increased agility—but barriers remain

Some 90 percent of organisations across EMEA have now adopted APIs, and this widespread use is focused—among many processes—on driving revenue growth (cited by 32 percent) and delivering speed and innovation via third-party APIs (32 percent).

The result is increased business agility. According to the study, EMEA organisations are seeing a 33 percent increase in business agility (i.e. speed to market) from their API efforts—reducing the time to develop/test and release new apps from an average of 10.80 weeks to 7.25 weeks.

Barriers to API adoption in remain though. The major barriers are the lack of skilled resources (cited by 34 percent), the time needed to develop an API (32 percent) and the ability to scale usage/manage performance (31 percent).

“The digital revolution is prompting opportunities to offer new products, create platforms to deliver services and provide better experiences to customers—all by using APIs. While APIs themselves are not a new innovation, it’s more important than ever in the digital economy to manage them effectively. That unified approach to management enables companies of all sizes, in all sectors, to level the competitive playing field, and cope better with the rising volume, scale and volatility of customer-facing apps,” says Malak.

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Middle East Business

Amal Daragmeh: UN Under Secretary General discusses Urban Sustainability with UPC.

Abu Dhabi, 23rd May, 2017: A senior representative from the United Nations (UN) met with Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) this week to discuss the global issue of rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies.

ميدل ايست بزنس

أبوظبي، 23 مايو2017: استقبل سعادة فلاح محمد الأحبابي مدير عام مجلس أبوظبي للتخطيط العمرانيي صباح اليوم الدكتور جون كلوس مساعد الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة المدير التنفيذي لبرنامج الأمم المتحدة للمستوطنات البشرية لتعزيز التعاون بين المجلس وبرنامج الأمم المتحدة في مجال التخطيط والتوسع العمراني وأثره على المجتمعات والمدن والاقتصاد والتغير المناخي والسياسات.

Middle East Business

Renewable Energy Employs 9.8 million People Worldwide, New IRENA Report Finds.

Global energy system creating more jobs in renewables than in fossil-fuel technologies
More than 9.8 million people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2016, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review 2017, released at IRENA’s 13th Council meeting, provides the latest employment figures of the renewable energy sector and insight into the factors affecting the renewable labour market.

“Falling costs and enabling policies have steadily driven up investment and employment in renewable energy worldwide since IRENA’s first annual assessment in 2012, when just over five million people were working in the sector,” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. “In the last four years, for instance, the number of jobs in the solar and wind sectors combined has more than doubled.
“Renewables are directly supporting broader socio-economic objectives, with employment creation increasingly recognised as a central component of the global energy transition. As the scales continue to tip in favour of renewables, we expect that the number of people working in the renewables sector could reach 24 million by 2030, more than offsetting fossil-fuel job losses and becoming a major economic driver around the world,” Mr. Amin added.

The Annual review shows that global renewable-energy employment, excluding large hydropower, reached 8.3 million in 2016. When accounting for direct employment in large hydropower, the total number of renewable-energy jobs globally climbs to 9.8 million. China, Brazil, the United States, India, Japan and Germany accounted for most of the renewable-energy jobs. In China for example, 3.64 million people worked in renewables in 2016, a rise of 3.4 per cent.

IRENA’s report shows that solar photovoltaic (PV) was the largest employer in 2016, with 3.1 million jobs — up 12 per cent from 2015 — mainly in China, the United States and India. In the United States, jobs in the solar industry increased 17 times faster than the overall economy, growing 24.5 per cent from the previous year to over 260,000. New wind installations contributed to a 7 per cent increase in global wind employment, raising it up to 1.2 million jobs. Brazil, China, the United States and India also proved to be key bioenergy job markets, with biofuels accounting for 1.7 million jobs, biomass 0.7 million, and biogas 0.3 million.

“IRENA has provided this year a more complete picture on the state of employment in the renewables sector, by including large hydropower data. It is important to recognise these additional 1.5 million working people, as they represent the largest renewable energy technology by installed capacity,” said Dr. Rabia Ferroukhi, Head of IRENA’s Policy Unit and Deputy Director of Knowledge, Policy and Finance.

The report finds that globally, 62 per cent of the jobs are located in Asia. Installation and manufacturing jobs continue to shift to the region, particularly Malaysia and Thailand, which has become global centre for solar PV fabrication.

In Africa, utility-scale renewable energy developments have made great strides, with South Africa and North Africa accounting for three-quarters of the continent’s 62,000 renewable jobs.
“In some African countries, with the right resources and infrastructure, we are seeing jobs emerge in manufacturing and installation for utility-scale projects. For much of the continent however, distributed renewables, like off-grid solar, are bringing energy access and economic development. These off-grid mini-grid solutions are giving communities the chance to leap-frog traditional electricity infrastructure development and create new jobs in the process,” Dr. Ferroukhi said.

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Es ist schon ein wenig ironisch, dass Ägypten eins der größten Ölproduzenten außerhalb der OPEC-Länder und der zweitgrößte Erdgasproduzent eines der energie unsichersten Länder der Region ist. Das Land erholt sich noch von den verheerenden Auswirkungen der sozialen und politischen Umbrüche während des arabischen Frühlings, und Stromausfällen und hohe Energieknappheit bestehen weiterhin. Die Regierung war daraufhin gezwungen Rohöl und Erdölprodukte aus den GCC (Golf-Kooperationsrat) Staaten, d.h. hauptsächlich Saudi-Arabien und den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten, zu importieren, um die durch schnell ansteigende Bevölkerung wachsende Inlandsnachfrage zu erfüllen.

Aber dies könnte sich nun ändern. Trotz all seines politischen und wirtschaftlichen Pechs, hat Ägypten den Segen großer aber hauptsächlich unerschlossener erneuerbarer Energiereserven. Das Land genießt nämlich 2800 kWh pro Quadratmeter pro Jahr direkte Sonneneinstrahlung, neben 3015 Jahresvolllaststunden von Windkraft, die höchste Zahl unter den Arabischen Ländern. Diese enormen Reserven bieten einzigartige Möglichkeiten für ausländische Investoren.

“Ägypten ist eine der größten Wirtschaften in der Region und die Tatsache, dass sie erfolgreich mit ihrem neuen Programm zu Erneuerbaren Energien startet, zeigt, dass viele gute Entwicklungen auf uns zukommen werden.“ sagt Daniel Calderon, CEO von Alcazar Energy, ein unabhängiger Entwickler aus den VAE, welcher $200 Millionen in Sonnen-und Windenergieanlagen in Ägypten investiert hat und weitere $100 Millionen als Langzeitinvestition plant.

„Sie haben zum größten Teil die Erwartungen der Investoren erfüllt- eine Tatsache die nicht selbstverständlich ist. Selbst einige der hoch entwickelten Wirtschaften Europas und Nordamerikas haben es kaum geschafft Fristen einzuhalten. Dies ist ein Hindernis wenn man einen neuen Energierahmen umsetzt, welcher trotz der lokalen gesetzlichen Regeln funktioniert. Ich bin deshalb sehr zufrieden, weil wir so eine einzigartige Möglichkeit haben unseren Investoren und Aktionären zu zeigen, dass die Regierungen sich nach den Regeln richten, die sie gestalten.“

Daniel Calderon bezieht sich hier auf das vor Kurzem verabschiedete Gesetz zu Ägyptens erneuerbarer Energie bezüglich neuer Projekte, der Bereitstellung von Land für diese Projekte, Anbindung an das nationale Netz und dem Verkauf der produzierten Energie. Die Regierung arbeitet zur Zeit auch an detaillierten Regeln zur Wind- und Sonnenenergie, indem sie eine neue Marktstruktur ausarbeiten, während sie außerdem auch die Rollen ihrer bestehenden Stromversorger überarbeiten.

All dies passiert vor dem Hintergrund, dass erneuerbare Energie bis 2022 20% der totalen Energieerzeugung ausmachen soll, davon 12% allein durch Windenergie.

Allerdings warnt Daniel, dass die Regierungen in den Regionen eine signifikante Summe ausländischer Investitionen brauchen, welche allerdings nicht zustande kommen wird, falls die Vertragsdetails nicht besser klar gestellt werden.

“Wenn man sich die selbstgesteckten Ziele der Regierungen im Mittleren Osten, der Türkei und Afrika anschaut, und wenn man dabei die gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Kosten der Technologie berücksichtigt, dann braucht man eine gesamte Investition von ungefähr $200 Milliarden bis 2020. Dies ist eine riesige Summe Geld.”

“Aber damit das Geld in die Region fließt,braucht man sehr viele Personen die auf eine bankfähige Art und Weise investieren. Diese Verträge müssen deshalb eine Sichtweite von 20-25 Jahren über die Energiekosten haben.“

“Sie müssen einen bankfähigen Rahmenplan vorzeigen können, den man nationalen Bauunternehmen geben kann, damit Kredite über eine längere Kursbasis kommen können. Und dies ist etwas das in einer sehr konstanten Art entwickelt werden muss. Wenn ich also sage, dass ich mich freue, ist dies wegen der existierenden Möglichkeit eines $200 Milliarden - Handels. Dies wäre eine positive Entwicklung für die Region, hinsichtlich Jobs, nächtlicher Stromversorgung, Krankenhäuser – welches alle gute Entwicklungen aus einer sozialen Perspektive sind” fügt er hinzu.

Firmen wie die von Daniel Calderon expandieren momentan im Mittleren Osten, wo die Investitions Landschaft sich verbessert und wo stabilere Gesetze und Regelungen umgesetzt werden.

 “Wir möchten langfristig im Mittleren Osten, der Türkei und Afrika investieren”, sagt Daniel Calderon überzeugt und ohne Zögern.

Mit einem wachsenden Portfolio ist es auch sehr wahrscheinlich, dass dasselbe mit der Anzahl an Investoren geschieht”

Als er zu der Technologie gefragt wird, die die höchste Wahrscheinlichkeit für zukünftiges Wachstum hat, fällt seine Antwort klar und deutlich aus:

Es wird Wind- und Sonnenenergie sein. Letztes Jahr wurden $330 Milliarden in erneuerbare Energie investiert, 270 Milliarden davon allein für Wind- und Solarenergie. Das kommt daher, dass man bankfähige Technologien benutzen muss, um Projektfinanzierungen zu erhalten - Die Technologie in den Solar- und Wind Sektoren erfordert in der Tat sehr niedrige Kosten.

“Dank der erfolgreichen und bankfähigen Richtlinien ist Jordanien, gefolgt von Tunesien, ein weiterer Markt mit hohem Wachstumspotenzial für ausländische Investoren“ sagt Daniel. Calderon 

“Mit der Umsetzung ihres Rahmenplans für erneuerbare Energien und der gegenwärtigen makroökonomischen Situation, machen erneuerbare Energien in diesen Ländern definitiv Sinn”, so sein Fazit.

Dans l’un de nos articles récents, nous avons discuté de la numérisation de notre société, aussi connue sous le nom de 4ème révolution industrielle. Elle se caractérise par une fusion des technologies qui brouille les lignes entre les sphères physiques, numériques et biologiques... Le phénomène transforme l'ensemble du système de production, de gestion et de gouvernement et influe même sur les notions fondamentales de marché et de commerce. Essentiellement, la 4ème révolution industrielle déforme la façon dont nous faisions affaire.