Adnoc and the National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) have concluded testing on two geothermal wells at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, marking breakthrough in first project in the Gulf region to harness geothermal energy.

The landmark project is set to decarbonise the cooling of buildings in Masdar City, further diversify the UAE’s energy mix and support the UAE National Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to grow renewable energy capacity to 14 GW by 2030.

The project is enabled by Adnoc’s initial $15 billion allocation towards low carbon solutions and will support its decarbonisation plan and net zero by 2045 ambition as well as the Abu Dhabi Climate Change Strategy and UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.

The wells produced hot water at temperatures exceeding 90 deg C and flowrates of approximately 100 liters per second. The hot water generated by the heat from the wells will then pass through an absorption cooling system to produce chilled water, which will then be supplied to Tabreed’s district cooling network at Masdar City, accounting for 10 per cent of its cooling needs.

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, Adnoc Executive Director for Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth, said: "Geothermal heat is a clean and renewable source of energy abundantly available in the UAE and capable of providing baseload electricity. However, until now, it has remained an untapped source of energy."