Green Investment Bank in deal with Abu Dhabi

OIl-riCh emirate Abu Dhabi has agreed to invest in green infrastructure projects in the UK over the next seven years as it signs a “memorandum of understanding” (MoU) with the Edinburgh and London-based Green Investment Bank (GIB) today.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, will sign the MoU at an event hosted by Prince 
Andrew, the Duke of York, at Buckingham Palace.

Under the terms of the MoU it is expected that Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s state-backed renewable energy company, and the GIB will “consider opportunities” to invest jointly in projects.

Masdar has already invested more than £500 million through its 20 per cent equity stake in the UK’s London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, in a joint venture with Denmark-based Dong Energy and E.ON.

Shaun Kingsbury, the GIB chief executive who will also sign the agreement, said: “This relationship shows how we 
can act as a catalyst to bring in additional funds for UK clean energy projects to complement the support we’ve already received from the UK government.”

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive of Masdar, said: “The United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom have already forged a strong bond in the advancement of clean energy.”