Abu Dhabi announces breakthrough in tapping geothermal energy

Abu Dhabi announces breakthrough in tapping geothermal energy

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed), on Monday announced a breakthrough in the first project in the gulf region to harness geothermal energy following the conclusion of testing on two geothermal wells at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.

The state-backed oil producer, which is also driving the country's decarbonisation push, said the wells produced hot water at temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Celsius and flow rates of approximately 100 liters per second (l/s).

The hot water generated by the heat from the wells will now pass through an absorption cooling system to produce chilled water, which will then be supplied to Tabreed’s district cooling network at Masdar City, accounting for 10% of its cooling needs, the companies said in a statement.

Currently, the cooling of buildings accounts for most of the UAE’s electricity consumption.

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, ADNOC Executive Director for Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth, said: "Geothermal heat is a clean and renewable source of energy abundantly available in the UAE and capable of providing baseload electricity. However, until now, it has remained an untapped source of energy. By leveraging technological advances, for the first time ADNOC and Tabreed have unlocked this clean energy source to decarbonize