Masdar, E.ON Climate & Renewables establish new carbon project development JV

ABU DHABI, UAE: Masdar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company focused on renewable energy and sustainability, and E.ON, one of the world’s leading utility companies, today announced an agreement to establish E.ON Masdar Integrated Carbon (EMIC), a joint venture company focused on developing carbon emission reduction projects on the global market.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, EMIC will capitalize on the growth in the carbon market to monetize emission reductions resulting from improving the energy efficiency of industrial facilities. The company will develop, finance and implement projects in the Middle East, Africa and Asia with a particular focus on power generation and oil and gas. The emission reductions will be monetized in the form of carbon credits and traded under the current United Nations based Clean Development Mechanism or other applicable future international climate trading schemes.

Masdar CEO, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said: “This initiative builds on our already established successful relationship with E.ON and our matching vision about the carbon market and the choice of technology. It is a good opportunity to leverage our competitive advantage to create value on the global market."

EMIC will be one of the leading edge companies in the full value chain management of a carbon abatement projects and will be able to achieve this all in-house.

The new joint venture will capitalize on the strengths of its parent companies to identify and develop opportunities within the target markets. Projects will focus on technologies with large carbon abatement reduction potential, namely: fuel switching, open cycle to combined cycle gas turbine conversion, gas pipeline leakage reduction and gas flare reduction.

Frank Mastiaux, CEO of E.ON Climate & Renewables added: “This activity focused on the carbon market will add another strong pillar to the already substantial business relationship between E.ON Climate & Renewables and Masdar in the space of sustainable and renewable energy. The JV underlines both our strong commitment to create a global project-driven carbon abatement business. Masdar and E.ON’s combined significant and complementary expertise and market exposure will give the new company a leading edge in the market."

The global carbon market has witnessed sharp growth in recent years reaching $168 billion in 2009, with a 68 percent increase over 2008 in global trading volume.

The establishment of EMIC is subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals and completion of other conditions precedent to closing; these are expected to be finalized during the first quarter of 2010.