Clean-Energy Projects + AI/Data-Centres: Masdar Says Renewables Will Fuel Tech Growth
Abu Dhabi, UAE – In a notable strategic shift, Masdar is positioning its renewable energy initiatives not just as climate-action tools, but as essential infrastructure to power the UAE’s burgeoning tech-hub ambitions — particularly in AI, data-centres and digital services.
Strategic Realignment: From Hydrogen to Data Power
Originally, Masdar planned to channel renewable energy towards green hydrogen or ammonia production — a vision of decarbonised industrial fuels. However, with global demand for green hydrogen underwhelming, Masdar’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, revealed in a Bloomberg interview that the company has diverted billions of dollars from hydrogen projects to feed data-centre power needs.
Al Ramahi explained:
“In my original plan … to produce around 350,000 tons of green ammonia. But power from the $6 billion solar project in the desert has been reallocated to feed data centres.”
This highlights how the energy-intensive future of digital infrastructure — AI training, cloud computing, edge-data facilities — is becoming a major demand driver for renewables, particularly in the UAE.
Why This Matters
- Massive energy demand from tech: Data-centres and AI workloads require reliable, large-scale electricity. With predictions showing a multi-fold increase in global data-centre energy by the end of the decade, Masdar sees renewables as a key enabler.
- Baseload clean power: In October 2025, Masdar and partner EWEC broke ground on a gigascale project featuring 5.2 GW of solar PV + 19 GWh of battery storage to produce 1 GW of round-the-clock renewable power — making it ideally suited to supply continuous loads such as data-centres.
- Tech-economy synergy: The move reflects the UAE’s broader strategy to fuse its energy leadership with its tech ambitions. Clean, reliable power underpins AI-clusters, digital manufacturing, data hubs and smart infrastructure.
- Investment & industrial opportunity: For energy equipment, battery storage systems, cloud/edge-hardware, and AI infrastructure, this shift opens new business streams — domestically and regionally.
- Diversification & resilience: By tying renewables not just to power generation but to tech growth, Masdar is helping the UAE reduce dependence on just energy export models and move toward a knowledge-/data-driven economy.
Implications & What to Watch
- Infrastructure scale-up: Keep an eye on how many GW of renewables are explicitly earmarked for digital infrastructure, data-centres or AI farms.
- Battery storage & dispatch technologies: Since continuous (24/7) clean power is key for data-centres, the storage/batteries and dispatch solutions (including AI-driven grid-management) will matter.
- Commercial models & off-take agreements: How Masdar, data-centres, cloud-operators and governments structure power purchase agreements (PPAs) for these tech loads will shape investment returns.
- Regulatory frameworks: As energy and digital sectors converge, look for new rules around data-centre zoning, electricity tariffs for tech loads, grid-scheduling, and certification of “green power for tech”.
- Sustainability narrative vs. reality: While renewables power tech growth — the question remains how much of the data-centre demand is truly covered by dedicated clean power vs. grid mix.
- Global competitiveness: With the UAE offering clean-power-backed tech infrastructure, it could attract more hyperscale data-centres, AI labs, cloud-operators seeking sustainability and reliability.
Suggested Headline & Sub-heading
Headline: Masdar Leverages Renewables to Power UAE’s AI & Data-centre Boom
Sub-heading: With a multi-billion-dollar strategy shift, Masdar directs clean energy towards data-intensive tech infrastructure, accelerating the UAE’s digital transformation.
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