Renewable energy technologies adopted by the UAE: Prospects and challenges - A comprehensive overview

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an oil-rich country which is located in the eastern part of the Arabian Gulf. The country is considered among the highest energy consumer in the world. Likewise of the other GCC countries, UAE's economy mainly depends on the oil, gas and other fossil fuels. In the recent timings, with a continuous increase in UAE's population require further demand in its energy production which is essential for its economic growth. However as the fossil fuels are limited sources, consequently additional sustainable and renewable energy (RE) resources are necessary to be explored. In this context, the UAE is considering alternative RE resources to overcome such issues as well as to reduce environmental pollution and its carbon emission. The present work addresses the issues and challenges related with the RE resources technologies, in the scenario of UAE. The possible current, RE resources choices for UAE and potential future prospects of such technologies are mentioned. Further at the present timings, renewable energy resources such as photovoltaic energy, concentrated solar power, wave energy and fuel cell energy etc., which UAE's is mainly focusing are reviewed. Similarly the past and ongoing research work conducted on such technologies has been also discussed. It is expected that by exploring RE technologies, with proper utilization and with better planning these renewable energy sources will provide a suitable solution for the UAE's energy, economy and environmental issues. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.