A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed that the GCC population will soar by 30% to 53.5 million people who will form an increasing strain on the region’s supplies of electricity, food and water.
The report said that “By 2020, the GCC population is forecast to reach 53.5 million, a 30% increase over the level in 2000. Over the same period, the region’s real GDP is expected to grow by 56% and the nominal GDP, which was USD 341.6 billion in 2000, is forecast to soar to over USD 1 trillion in 2010 and USD 2 trillion in 2020.”
The Economist Intelligence said that the GCC nations are undertaking a variety of measures to ensure long term sustainable growth introducing energy efficiency measures, investing in clean fuel and renewable energy supplies, improving water efficiency, investing in new water desalination capacity; and buying or leasing agricultural land abroad.
Mr Sultan Al Jaber CEO of Masdar said that the UAE oil potentials amounted to 8.5% of global oil wealth, ranking fifth at the international level while its natural gas deposits which approximately account for 3.3% of the world’s total proven gas resources have pushed the UAE government to think of renewable energy to benefit from the rise in prices of hydrocarbon resources.
Mr Al Jaber said that this has driven the UAE to think of renewable energy to generate power to meet the rise in demand
He said that the UAE aims to produce seven per cent of its electricity, for example, through alternative energy renewable energy by 2020, 25% from nuclear energy and the remaining 68% from gas.
He added that “Should we use this mix of power sources, we will be saving from the period 2012-2030 more than AUD 55 billion.”
The International Renewable Energy Agency said that the GCC countries’ returns through renewable energy integration could hit USD 200 billion by 2030.