An Investigation of the U.A.E. Holistic Energy Sector

Abstract

This work was carried out essentially to investigate the design and flow of the energy sector in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) within the context of sector organization, fuel supply and distribution, electricity generation and transmission, as well as tariff systems. Almost 99 % of utility plants in the country are powered by natural gas, thus the rapid increase in electricity and water consumption in the country over the past few years has rendered the country a net importer of natural gas. Furthermore, the tariff system being implemented in the country is highly subsidized; encouraging a high consumption rate of electricity. Moreover with the current static tariff system implemented a dynamic, well-informed demand and supply of electricity does not exist and instead electricity consumption levels in U.A.E. are based on a generous assumption of constant existence and abundant supply. As a result of these findings, analysis was carried out in this work that forecast the energy situation in the U.A.E. under different scenarios. Under the status quo, the UAE would need to supplement the gas shortage with crude oil as is the case with other GCC countries. This option is a costly one, because crude oil is the main revenue source for the country. Hence the need for alternative energy source is pertinent. As such, innovative ideas for optimizing the electricity sector in U.A.E. are presented from both the fuel generation and electricity consumption perspectives.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Sameh El Khatib (Supervisor)