Governor of Alaska Opens Solar and Clean Energy Conference as World Future Energy Summit Enters Second Day

ABU DHABI, ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, January 15, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Solar, clean energy, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominated discussions on the second day of the World Future Energy Summit 2025, the foremost regional event advancing clean energy and sustainability hosted by Masdar and part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

As government officials and industry professionals united to discuss and explore trends and technologies shaping the sector’s future, Governor Michael J Dunleavy of Alaska provided the Solar & Clean Energy Conference’s keynote speech, where the 63-year-old Republican highlighted the similarities between snowy Alaska and the sunkissed Emirates.

Discussing some of the renewable energy initiatives Alaska employs to help grow wealth in a sustainable fashion, Governor Dunleavy said: “The UAE and Alaska don’t share much in common when it comes to our climates, but… we are both rich in natural resources and we both share people with foresight to recognise wealth from these resources shouldn’t only benefit the current generation. They recognise we owe it to future generations to pursue policies that will not only protect this wealth, but increase it.

“[Yet] this won't be, and can't be, a zero-sum game with winners and losers,” added Gov Dunleavy. “Energy binds us. It creates alliances. It creates prosperity and economic opportunity that's limited only by our imagination. Abundant energy is critical to advancing civilisation and innovation for humanity, so I'm excited about the future in Alaska and, halfway around the world, here in the UAE. I look forward to working together to turn our shared visions into realities that will benefit both the people we serve and the planet we share.”

International trading of renewables can help overcome energy consumption fluctuations
Dunleavy’s address was immediately followed by a panel discussion surrounding the grid as a barrier to tripling renewable energy. Featuring Maryam Alshamsi, Sustainability Engineer in the Department of Future Energy at the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, Eng Yousif Al Ali, CEO of Etihad Water and Electricity, Luc Koechlin, CEO Middle East of EDF, and Dr Bruce Stedall, COO of TAQA Transmission, the panel members discussed the challenges and next steps for integrating renewable energy into the grid, emphasising the need for significant investment and better demand management.

“When I think about the barriers in general, it takes me back 16 years to the first Summit here in 2008,” said Al Ali, who recalled the questions he faced about renewables back then were primarily related to cost and whether dust would impact solar PVs. “Everybody was skeptical, yet we managed to overcome these barriers. Now, the challenge we face in the UAE is that our consumption drops to 30 per cent in winter, yet we have to design all our network and capacity for peak demand in summer. In other countries, it does not differ so much seasonally, so by expanding our interconnection with other countries – such as India, for example – we might find opportunities to export and import cheaper electricity at certain times.”

Koechlin, whose employers at French electric utility company EDF are the largest foreign developer for renewables in the UAE, added: “There's huge work going on now in Europe on the demand management side because you can significantly improve and change the impact you have on the grid, and therefore the needs you have. For example, electric vehicles can be used as distributed storage. If you properly manage your network storage and the way you are charging your vehicles, you can completely transform the demand curve.”

AI solutions to transform mitigation, innovation, and adaptation in global energy sector
In twin sessions focusing on AI’s myriad solutions for climate challenges, experts from academia and the private sector explored AI’s transformative potential to shape, and enhance, new climate-focused technologies to help achieve the global emissions reductions needed by society.
Discussing AI’s power as a tool for mitigation, innovation, and adaptation across the energy transition ecosystem, Dr. Diana Francis, a Climate Scientist and ENGEOS Lab Head at Khalifa University, pressed the case for wholesale AI integration to help solve critical energy issues.
Outlining the adaptability of AI-driven early warning systems to aid climate modelling and predictions, or AI-powered grid management to predict energy demand cycles and reduce wastage, Dr. Francis explained: “We need the energy transition to happen as soon as possible, and AI is the accelerator that can help us find innovative solutions for a sustainable future. For example, we can harness AI's ability to predict energy demand, thereby helping renewable energies meet this demand through efficient operations,” she added.
Next up, Jay Sadiq, the enigmatic Founder & CEO of FortyGuard, explained how the Abu Dhabi-based company has built its own Large Temperature Model (LTM) to create a unique Temperature-as-a-Service platform featuring open-source mapping, advanced dashboards, and Enterprise APIs that deliver comprehensive, real-time temperature data and intelligence for diverse industries.
“I am obsessed with the problem of temperature,” said Sadiq, who outlined his plan for FortyGuard’s data-driven Temperature Dashboard to become a standard feature integrated into everyday applications. “There are 3.5 billion people that now live in hot climates, and temperature will be our number one problem as human beings, nations, and industrialists by 2030. What our Temperature Dashboard offers is a system with 42 billion data points that empowers users in a multitude of areas. People can select walking routes based on cooler streets, or choose where to live based on cooler-than-average communities identified by temperature-based analytics. If we can utilise and adapt data to predict future temperature levels, we can improve lives,” added Sadiq.
Homegrown Nabat to leverage AI in bid to restore the UAE’s mangrove populations
On the exhibition floor, Nabat, a UAE-based company that has partnered with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi to restore thousands of hectares of mangroves throughout the country by 2030, confirmed it will continue leveraging AI as it expands to other regions where mangroves are at risk, as well as other ecosystems such as deserts, forests, farmland, and coral reefs.
By conserving and restoring mangroves, which are widely acknowledged as some of the planet’s most powerful carbon sinks, Nabat is directly supporting the region’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost biodiversity, and improve the resilience of coastal communities to the effects of climate change.
“The most effective and powerful technologies move the needle on real-world problems—and that’s what we’re offering with Nabat,” said Jennifer Simonjan, Director of Research at Nabat. “Powered by cutting-edge AI and autonomous robotics developed at Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute, we believe our work across the region in restoring vital ecosystems will play a key role on our collective journey to net-zero.”
Industry-defining climate innovations on show at CLIX
Sponsored by the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA), CLIX - a World Future Energy Summit initiative designed to address gender disparities in the energy sector - is providing a platform for 25 female-founded, owned, and operated startups to present groundbreaking ideas and solutions in the fight against climate change.

With this year’s CLIX being held under the theme ‘The Critical Role of Women in the Climate Conversation,’ CLIXai, a new concept for 2025, is also spotlighting AI innovations from 10 trailblazing startups: Fairatmos, GoCodeGreen, GreenEnco Ltd, LivNSense GreenOps Private Limited, NiCAT, Olive Gaea, Seabex SAS, umgrauemeio, Ziptrax Cleantech, and Kamma Climate.
Kamma Climate has developed the most advanced climate dataset for the built environment, transforming millions of property data points into detailed environmental profiles. Its proprietary data engine equips mortgage lenders, real estate firms, energy companies, and public sector bodies with critical insights to manage climate risk, meet regulatory and net-zero requirements, and commercialise low-carbon technologies. By enabling scalable retrofitting, Kamma is driving the shift toward a sustainable, low-carbon future.
Orla Shields, CEO and Founder of Kamma Climate, said: “Participating in the CLIXai programme has provided a remarkable opportunity for us to present our cutting-edge climate technology and data to investors and businesses throughout the Middle East. As a tech company specialising in analysing and modelling net zero pathways for the built environment, the support and networking we’ve received here have been truly transformative. CLIX, CLIXai and the World Future Energy Summit provide an unparalleled platform for early-stage, female-led businesses to launch, grow, and establish a meaningful presence in the region."
Brazilian-based company umgrauemeio, Portuguese for one-and-a-half degrees, has designed an AI solution for wildland fire management that covers more than 17.5 million hectares of forest areas across Brazil. Their software has a ‘smoke detect time’ of three seconds using AI and has reduced the potential of burned areas up to 90 per cent in some coverage areas. “We are targeting markets involved in forest conservation, agriculture, and environmental protection, collaborating with private companies, governments, and public-private partnerships to bring our innovative solutions to the forefront,” said Eimi Arikawa, the company’s Chief Revenue Officer.
At CLIXai, attendees experienced first-hand the pioneering technologies shaping the future of sustainability and explored innovative solutions tackling global climate challenges. The feature exemplifies the synergy between AI and climate action, strengthening collaboration and dialogue to address critical global issues.
The World Future Energy Summit 2025 has several strategic partners, including Masdar, Tadweer Group, Masdar City, Nextracker, DEWA, and Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC).

Pragati Malik
MCS Action FZ LLC
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