DOHA: The Minister of Energy and Industry, H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada yesterday inaugurated Chevron's Center for Sustainable Energy Efficiency at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP).
Al Sada said in his address at the opening ceremony of the Center: "Interest in sustainable energy is universal. Qatar supplies energy to the entire world and we are playing our part to conserve energy. On the emissions side, we are reducing flaring and LNG jetty boil-off, as well as conducting carbon sequestration studies. On the consumption side, we are encouraging more energy efficiency."
The Minister added that Chevron's Center is a real contribution to these efforts of Qatar. He noted that QSTP is accelerating the development of technology and its application in Qatar and that Chevron has the know-how in both petroleum and renewable energy. "Together they are ensuring that Qatar will be a leader in sustainable energy technologies as well," Al Sada said, urging Chevron to focus on sustainability at QSTP because of their accumulated experience in the field in the US.
Present at the ceremony were John D Gass, Chevron's President of Global Gas, and Dr Tidu Maini, QSTP's Executive Chairman. Also present were Saad Al Kaabi, Director of Oil & Gas Ventures at Qatar Petroleum, and Carl Atallah, President of Chevron Qatar.
Maini said QSTP has a comprehensive strategy for technology evaluation and research-led development in solar energy in Qatar, which in the long term is sustainable and self reliant. "Chevron's expertise and experience in testing and deploying clean energy technologies in California is of immense help," he said.
Gass said: "We define ingenuity as innovation applied to create business value. We look forward to leveraging our practical and research knowledge in energy efficiency to help realise the goal of QSTP--a laboratory that creates technological solutions for world's greatest needs."
He added that the mission of the centre is twofold, that of educating people about the value of energy efficiency and developing the applications that will create those savings.
Chevron's centre at QSTP supports Qatar's strategy for sustainable development through research, demonstration and training of solar power and energy efficiency.
The work, funded by a $20m investment from Chevron, will help Qatar achieve two important goals, namely identifying sustainable energy technologies that work best in Qatar's climate and accelerating real-world application of these technologies through education and industry partnerships.
© The Peninsula 2011
