The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a leading oil producer in the Middle East, is preparing to usher in a "post-oil" era by shifting from oil dependence to a diversified, high value-added economy spanning services, manufacturing, and advanced industries. The aim is to upgrade the structure of the economy and industry in step with changing global demand. ChosunBiz visited Abu Dhabi, at the forefront of the post-oil trend, to look at the sites preparing for a future beyond oil. [Editor's note]
A roughly 30-minute drive from downtown Abu Dhabi to the southeast through the desert leads to Masdar City, a cluster of low-rise buildings. On the 4th of last month (local time), upon entering the site, the 45-meter-tall "wind tower" installed at the center of the plaza was the first thing to catch the eye. Although its purpose is not obvious at a glance, the wind tower cools air from the upper atmosphere with water and channels it into the city, lowering the overall urban temperature like an "air conditioner."
Masdar City is a project Abu Dhabi began developing in 2008 with the goal of becoming the "world's first carbon-neutral city." It is being built to a scale of 5.7 million square meters, about twice the size of Yeouido (2.9 million square meters). An Abu Dhabi Media Office official said, "The Middle East struggles with high temperatures, and Masdar City was born from efforts to address that," adding, "Every element—from architecture to landscaping, infrastructure, and city operations—has been designed to be environmentally friendly."
◇"Building an eco-friendly city for the future"
Abu Dhabi's efforts to build an eco-friendly city are embedded throughout Masdar City. Unlike other free economic zones filled with high-rises, Masdar City has designed most buildings as mid- to low-rise structures of five to six floors. The judgment was that mid- to low-rise buildings are more suitable than supertall buildings in terms of energy efficiency. The building exteriors are curved to create natural "wind corridors," and the gaps between buildings are narrowed to cast shade over walkways. As a result, the streets of Masdar City have become, unusually for Abu Dhabi, a pleasant space for walking.
Aiming for a carbon-neutral city, the transportation system is also different from that of typical cities. The main mode of transportation is an unmanned automated guideway transit (PRT) based on electricity and 5G mobile networks. The PRT runs underground between seven stations across the city at about 40 kph, transporting residents. The power that drives this system is also sourced from solar energy. Electricity produced by a 10-megawatt (MW) solar power plant and solar panels installed on rooftops across the city totals 13 MW, more than enough for about 20,000 people.
Why is Abu Dhabi, an oil producer, pouring effort into building an eco-friendly city? On the 6th, Abdullah Humaid Saif Al Jarwan, chair of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE), said, "Because we are looking to the future." He said, "Abu Dhabi is keeping both the near-term future to 2050 and the long-term future beyond that in mind," adding, "We have been building our energy system with energy security as the top priority." The DoE is a government agency established in 2018 to drive Abu Dhabi's sustainable energy transition.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven emirates including Abu Dhabi, was the first among Middle Eastern countries to set a national target of achieving net zero (carbon emissions of zero) by 2050. The judgment was that to prepare for the post-oil era, it is necessary to reduce dependence on oil from the energy production stage. Accordingly, Abu Dhabi is fostering eco-friendly energy as a main power source. As seen in Masdar City, solar power has become a central pillar of Abu Dhabi's energy transition strategy.
Abu Dhabi currently operates the 1.2-gigawatt (GW) "Noor Abu Dhabi" solar power plant and the 2 GW "Al Dhafra" plant. Al Jarwan said, "The Abu Dhabi government will add more than 3 GW of solar capacity every year and expand total generation capacity to 33 GW within the next 10 years," adding, "We are also pushing to build a battery storage system with a capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to efficiently store electricity generated by solar power." He emphasized that capabilities in energy production and storage are key to making Abu Dhabi stable and competitive.
◇Share of non-oil grows with solar and nuclear
Another pillar of Abu Dhabi's power grid is nuclear power. In 2009, Abu Dhabi partnered with "Team Korea," a consortium including Korea Electric Power Corporation and Samsung C&T, to build "Barakah," the UAE's first nuclear power plant. Starting with Unit 1 in 2021 and continuing through Unit 4 in 2024, the plant entered commercial operation sequentially and now produces more than 5 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. Construction of each unit at Barakah was completed in an average of eight years, and Al Jarwan emphasized, "Nowhere else in the world has built a nuclear plant of more than 5 GW in eight years."
An open partnership strategy is behind Abu Dhabi's rapid diversification of energy sources. After developing the Barakah plant in cooperation with Korea, Abu Dhabi has built global partnerships across various fields, including implementing smart grids and intelligent building technologies in Masdar City with German energy company Siemens. It is accelerating its energy transition by using joint venture (JV) models across nuclear, renewable energy, power grids, and broader urban infrastructure, and plans to further expand this collaboration strategy.
Buoyed by these government-level efforts and collaboration strategies, the share of oil in Abu Dhabi's power grid is shrinking rapidly. A decade ago, renewables and clean energy accounted for only 1% of Abu Dhabi's total power, but as of 2025 the figure has surpassed 45%. Through an "energy mix" (diversification of energy sources), Abu Dhabi plans to raise the share of renewables and clean energy to 60% within five years.
Abu Dhabi plans to invest 300 billion dirhams (about 118 trillion won) over the next 10 years to secure energy security. Al Jarwan said, "We are pursuing various projects, including thermal energy and solar power, and are reviewing what additional energy technologies we can incorporate," adding, "Energy technologies are already on a growth trajectory, and with budgets allocated and major projects awarded, many more initiatives will follow."
Abu Dhabi's transformation is also creating opportunities for Korean corporations. The eco-friendly energies Abu Dhabi is expanding—such as solar and nuclear—are all Korea's strategic export sectors. Al Jarwan said, "Through the Barakah plant, the results of our technology cooperation with Korea have already been proven. There is no reason the scale of business with Korea cannot grow more than tenfold from now," adding, "Abu Dhabi is happy to serve as a 'soft-landing platform' to help Korean corporations seeking to enter the energy sector establish themselves securely."