UAE Strengthens Clean Energy Collaboration in High-Level Visit to Spain - Middle East Business News and Information
The Visit Aimed to Strengthen Collaboration with Spanish Research Centres to Advance Renewable Energy Solutions
Dubai, UAE, May 2025: In a strategic effort to reinforce the UAE's leadership in renewable energy, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), in collaboration with Etihad Water and Electricity (EtihadWE), led an official delegation to Spain. The visit aimed to explore partnerships with leading research institutions and assess cutting-edge global technologies in solar energy and energy storage, advancing the UAE's efforts to promote a just energy transition.
The UAE delegation was headed by His Excellency Eng. Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure for Energy and Petroleum Affairs, and Eng. Yousif Ahmed Al Ali, CEO of Etihad Water and Electricity. The visit aligns with the shared commitment of MOEI and EtihadWE to drive innovation, future-focused infrastructure development, and strategic partnerships with global energy leaders.
The mission is in line with the UAE's efforts to accelerate its clean energy transition, enhance infrastructure readiness, and adopt global best practices. It also strengthens the UAE's position as a hub for sustainable energy and advanced technology.
For Etihad Water and Electricity, the visit supports the development of the Saud bin Saqr Energy and Innovation Park in Ras Al Khaimah—a flagship national clean energy project. The company also seeks to leverage global expertise in managing advanced energy centres.
The delegation visited several prominent institutions, including Spain's Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), a leading European research organization under the Ministry of Science and Innovation. During high-level discussions with Her Excellency Dr. Yolanda Benito Moreno, CIEMAT's Director-General, the delegation explored potential collaborations across various fields. The visit was followed by a guided tour of CIEMAT's laboratories, showcasing pioneering research projects and cutting-edge technological applications.
The delegation also toured the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), Europe's largest concentrated solar research facility, where they examined thermal storage systems and desert-condition simulation technologies—key areas for potential joint research with the Saud bin Saqr Energy and Innovation Park.
Additionally, the visit included the Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant, one of the world's first solar facilities to use thermal storage for continuous electricity generation. This project exemplifies a sustainable, round-the-clock model for renewable energy generation that aligns with MOEI and EtihadWE's aim to integrate more renewables into the UAE's power grid.
Through this visit, MOEI and EtihadWE sought to establish long-term partnerships with leading research institutions, supporting the UAE Energy Strategy 2050 and empowering national talent with access to global innovations.
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As tourism director for Visit Palma, he's caught between visitors behaving badly in the Spanish city, and residents demanding action. 'We need to ensure that tourism is a sustainable industry, not just from an environmental point of view but also from a social and economic point of view,' he says. 'Our economy depends on tourism, so we either make sure we're physically sustainable or we will not have a future.' Since the pandemic, Palma has stopped promoting itself outright. Instead, it runs 'image campaigns' to shape perceptions — even running ads to call out antisocial behavior in certain resorts. In 2022, the city capped cruise ship arrivals at three a day, even though the port can handle six (Barcelona has followed suit, announcing in July that it will close two of its seven cruise terminals from 2026). It banned short-term rental apartments and Airbnbs in city-center residential buildings and has set a cap of 12,000 hotel beds: for a new hotel to open, another must close. Palma has also built up a 50-million-euro ($58 million) fund to buy and remove outdated hotels from circulation — typically cheaper properties that tend to attract budget tourists. 'It's a way of taking out of the market all these obsolete and old hotels that are no longer competitive and not the kind of product that we want for the destination,' Homar says. 'We don't need you' Palma's approach raises a question: Who has the 'right' to travel? Some destinations have long used high costs to deter mass tourism. Bhutan charges a $100-a-day 'sustainable development fund' fee. A gorilla-trekking permit in Rwanda costs $1,500 per person. Even Venice's 10-euro day-tripper fee has drawn criticism from locals for selling the city to the wealthy. Homar argues that destinations should have the right to choose their visitors, likening it to deciding whom to invite to dinner. 'I really do believe that as mature destinations, we have the right to choose the tourists that we want, and don't want,' he says. 'We want tourists that respect our personality, our way of living, our traditions. 'If you are thinking of coming over without a respectful point of view, we say, respectfully, we don't need you.' Josephides is blunter. 'They don't want the rabble anymore,' he says. 'It sounds awful to say so, and everyone's entitled to a holiday, but the numbers just keep growing. The whole thing is out of control. I can understand the democratization but it's up to the destination if they want clients without any money,' he adds. 'I'd like to drive a Ferrari, but I can't afford it.' For now, he says, most European destinations seem focused on capping numbers rather than pricing out budget travelers entirely. In Rome, visiting the Trevi Fountain has become an ordeal. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images Winning back the locals Restoring the goodwill of residents is just as important as tackling the crowds. 'A city where residents are not satisfied is a city that doesn't work,' says Ruben Santopietro, CEO of Visit Italy, a marketing company for various destinations across the country. 'It loses its identity completely. Residents feel excluded and neighborhoods become touristic.' Born in Naples, which saw protests over lack of housing and growing short-term rental numbers in March, Santopietro has watched his hometown surge in popularity — and housing prices — over the past decade. He warns that if growth continues unchecked, 'in five years, 50% of the città d'arte (Italian cities of culture) will become inaccessible.' Rome, Florence and Naples, he says, are already 'suffocated by tourism' almost to the point of no return. Visitors, he adds, actually want locals around. 'Venice belongs to the Venetians. If locals aren't there, they won't go. Putting residents at the center of tourism models is the only way to preserve our cities from becoming open-air museums.' Homar agrees, echoing the same phrase — 'putting residents at the center of the tourist strategy' — when talking about Palma's new five-year plan, adopted in 2023. Some hotels the city buys will be replaced with green spaces or converted to housing. In November, Palma will launch free cultural activities for locals — organ recitals, children's days in the old atelier of artist Joan Miró, theater concerts organized by Spanish national radio stations, guided architectural walks around the city — to 'uplift the sense of belonging and the pride of being a citizen.' 'All these initiatives will be in spaces that residents for some reason believe are just for tourists,' he says. 'We're seeing that the sense of belonging that residents used to have about being in Palma, they were slowly losing that and we need to change that dynamic.' 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In Naples, residents protested about the housing crisis in March, citing short-term rentals as one of the takes time In the short term, protests are likely to spread, says Estrella Diaz Sanchez, associate professor of marketing at Spain's University of Castilla-La Mancha. 'Some locals are frustrated about the number of tourists they receive, but I think the main factor is skyrocketing rents, driven by short-term holiday lets, pushing locals out of the housing markets,' she says. 'The solution isn't to reject tourism; it's to make it more inclusive and respectful.' Even Josephides, the tourism industry doomsayer, thinks recovery is possible. He points to Estoril, on the Lisbon coast, which in the 1970s was a mass-market destination. Authorities decided to push it upmarket, and succeeded. 'You can recover, but it takes time,' he says. 'It's much easier for a destination to control its growth rather than repair it afterwards.' 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