In an era where clean energy is no longer a choice but a necessity, Masdar stands at the forefront of the global transition to sustainable power. As one of the UAE’s flagship clean energy companies, Masdar’s remarkable journey – from its inception in 2006 to its current position as a leader with over 31.5GW of global clean energy capacity – reflects a vision that blends innovation, strategic expansion, and steadfast commitment to sustainability.
In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Masdar’s CEO, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, to explore the key strategies and innovations behind the company’s rapid growth, its ambitious goals for 2030, and the pivotal moments that have shaped its success story. With an eye on the future, Masdar continues to pave the way for a cleaner, greener world.
Under your leadership, Masdar has grown into one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, with an impressive global project portfolio of over 30GW of clean energy capacity. What key strategies and innovations have contributed to this remarkable growth, and how is Masdar working toward achieving its ambitious goal of 100GW by 2030?
As the UAE’s clean energy champion, Masdar has been pioneering clean energy for nearly two decades since it was first launched by the Abu Dhabi leadership in 2006. Today, Masdar has grown to over 31.5GW of global clean energy capacity, having developed projects in over 40 countries across six continents.
Masdar’s unprecedented growth journey has been largely driven by the global shift towards renewables, but it has also been a self-driven journey. With a clear mandate from our shareholders – TAQA, ADNOC, and Mubadala – to grow our global clean energy capacity to 100 GW by 2030, we are on track to become one of the largest clean energy companies in the world.
In order to deliver on these ambitious targets, we are pursuing a strategy that includes both organic development – developing clean energy projects from scratch which has traditionally been a core strength – as well as inorganic expansion, particularly through targeted Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions targeting fully operational platforms or project portfolios.
Masdar’s competitive advantage lies in this unique blend that continues to be the driving force behind our success: A vision from the UAE leadership to accelerate the energy transition and deliver clean energy at home and around the world, the strong backing of our three shareholders, and an unparalleled team of Masdarians that execute on our strategy with diligence and precision in our quest to reach 100GW of clean energy capacity by 2030.
This has been a particularly busy year for Masdar in terms of its M&A activities. Can you tell us more about Masdar’s landmark transactions for 2024 and how they fit into Masdar’s broader strategy?
Masdar has indeed experienced a record year for M&A activity in several key markets: Spain, Greece and the United States. Our focus in 2024 was building out our global footprint to ensure Masdar has the local market presence alongside the required capabilities to deliver the 100GW ambition by 2030.
In Spain, we partnered with one of the world’s largest utilities Enel and its subsidiary Endesa in a €1.7 billion transaction, for 2.5GW of solar and battery storage projects. We also completed a landmark €1.2 billion acquisition of Saeta Yield from Brookfield, which will see Masdar acquire a portfolio of 745MW of predominantly wind assets, a 1.6GW development pipeline in Spain and Portugal and add a highly accomplished management team to the Group.
In Greece, we executed the largest ever energy transaction on the Athens Stock Exchange – and one of the largest in the history of Europe – with the €3.2 billion acquisition of TERNA ENERGY, which is targeting 6GW of clean energy capacity in the country by 2029. The company is a well-established name in the European renewables market, and we are pleased to have the history and capabilities as part of Masdar going forward.
And, in the United States, we further expanded our existing footprint in this core market with the 50 percent acquisition of Terra-Gen, one of the largest independent renewable energy companies in the US, with a gross operating portfolio of 3.8GW of wind, solar and battery storage projects, including 5.1GWh of energy storage facilities across 30 renewable power sites. Terra-Gen also has a strong development pipeline of over 12GW+, with a new windfarm and new solar park to start commercial operations in 2025.
These landmark transactions have helped to further cement Masdar’s leading position in Europe and the US as we continue to expand our global presence in these key markets critical to achieving our 2030 target.
It has been an equally defining year for Masdar closer to home, with continued rapid expansion across the Middle East. Can you tell us more about your regional growth this year?
While we continue to expand globally, our roots remain firmly planted in the Middle East, and the region is essential to our overall growth strategy – especially as it adopts renewable energy at a record pace.
Our growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been exceptionally notable this year, with a Masdar-led consortium being awarded the right to develop the 2GW Al Sadawi solar project and reaching financial close on the Multi-Utilities Infrastructure Facility at AMAALA, which includes a 250 MW solar park and 700MWh of battery storage.
In our home country of the UAE, we have also been hard at work, with the financial close of the 1.5GW Al Ajban Solar PV Project, set to be one of the world’s largest. This will make the UAE home to four of the world’s largest solar projects including Al Dhafra, Noor, and Mohamed Bin Rashed Solar Parks.
Our continued growth in the region reflects the pace at which the Middle East is deploying clean energy projects and underscores our commitment to delivering clean energy both at home and all around the world.
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Finally, you’ve been a part of Masdar’s journey since 2008, holding key leadership roles before becoming CEO. How has your strategic leadership shaped Masdar’s evolution, and what are the pivotal moments defining its success story?
It has been the honor of a lifetime – not only to lead Masdar as CEO – but to have been with it for over a decade and a half helping to shape its story.
When Masdar was first established, it was at a time when the renewable energy industry was still nascent. Masdar has played a key role in helping to shape and pioneer the industry into what it is today, and our growth story is one that is intertwined with the growth of the global renewable energy industry itself.
The foresight to establish Masdar is a direct result of the UAE’s long-standing commitment to sustainability, which has been deeply embedded in our culture since our country was first founded.
This commitment was also on full display as the UAE hosted COP28 last year – where Masdar’s Chairman and founding CEO, H.E. Dr Sultan Al Jaber served as COP28 President – with the adoption of the historic UAE Consensus resulting in a global commitment to triple the world’s clean energy capacity.
As Masdar continues to evolve and grow at a record pace, we will continue to support the world in its ambitions to triple global clean energy capacity as we work to grow our own capacity to 100GW by 2030.
