Over the past few years, the UAE has made it abundantly clear that it has great ambitions for the renewable energy sector, with directives like the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix from 25 per cent to 50 per cent by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent, thus saving AED 700 billion by 2050.
Additionally, the local government has set out a series of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will help it steer the country towards a more environment-friendly future.
On the ground, we are seeing many startups pop up in both the energy and sustainability spheres to help to try and make a difference of their own.
Here are 5 exciting UAE energy and sustainability startups developing some interesting innovations.
Yellow Door Energy
Among the premier names leading the renewable energy charge on the startup level is Dubai-based Yellow Door Energy (YDE), which in 2021 had clean energy assets worth $100 million. The company operates solar photovoltaic projects in many countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan.
With customers like Nestle, Carrefour, and the Landmark Group, YDE is helping bring solar energy in the region to the forefront as a viable alternative to non-renewable energy sources.
Volts
Volts is a technology startup that is developing compact and easy-to-use battery units for residential and commercial use. Clients can install solar panels or wind turbines, which produce energy for consumption during the day, with the excess stored within Volts’ batteries for use at night.
Volts was founded in 2019 and is headquartered at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. It is supported by The Catalyst, the region’s first clean technology startup accelerator program, which was created by Masdar City in partnership with energy giant BP to help startups accelerate their business through funding, training and mentorship.
FortyGuard
Another venture involved with Masdar City, FortyGuard is a cleantech startup working to combat the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which is an environmental phenomenon that occurs in dense metropolitan areas in which the clustering of roads, buildings and other manmade structures leads to diminished heat release and airflow, trapping heat within urban surfaces and pollutants in the immediate atmosphere, decreasing the quality of life of citizens.
Essentially, FortyGuard’s solutions revolve around collecting data on elevated city temperatures, formulating solutions based on predictive analytics and models, then deploying tailored solutions to fit the urban setting in question, through adding alternative coatings to city surfaces developed via material science technology. Added to a surface (asphalt or concrete) at the time of mixture, the final, dry surface would become re-engineered to deflect solar energy, which reduces both surface and ambient temperatures.
SmartBlock Beverages and their mobile app ZeLoop
Ras al Khaimah-based SmartBlock Beverages is developing blockchain solutions primarily for the beverage industries and related ecosystems. This comprises traceability, reward systems, counterfeit and alternative financing of structure projects.
The company’s current project, ZeLoop, is the first circular economy reward platform with a mobile application that rewards citizens for their eco-friendly actions with a focus on collecting used plastic bottles with ZeLoop’s own crypto tokens (ERW).
Consumers bring plastic bottles of any size or shape to a collection point and upload a photo of their deposit. The platform then geo-locates the user, validates the number of bottles deposited and credits users’ blockchain wallets with Eco-Rewards, a digital currency token created by Schaffner and his team. These tokens can later be exchanged for discounts at partner retailers, or even cash and Bitcoin (via the Binance exchange).
Manhat
A deeptech startup backed by the Abu Dhabi government’s Takamul initiative, Manhat is working on a solution to the UAE's dependence on desalination, utilizing physical sciences as opposed to energy-intensive IT-based methods in producing freshwater.
Manhat’s key invention is a greenhouse construct that is installed on a seashore, which relies on solar rays to heat water till the point of evaporation. After that, the ascending water vapour condenses when it touches the cooler side of the construct, eventually being collected and stored as pure, distilled water, with no resulting waste produced.
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