Dubai intends to change plans to build a power station to run on natural gas instead of coal, according to the United Arab Emirates, which pledged to reduce net carbon emissions by 2050.
The announcement came in a statement quoting Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and CEO of the Emirates Airlines Group.
The original plan was to build a $3.4 billion coal power plant.
The statement did not provide any details on the cost of the conversion, nor how it will affect the planned start-up time of the plant in the energy-starved country, while the facility will include a desalination plant to provide the water needed to green the desert dunes.
China is building the Hassyan power plant near Dubai’s border with Abu Dhabi, which Beijing describes as a “major engineering project for the Belt and Road Initiative”, a project that seeks to expand its influence in Africa and Asia.
China expects the plant, which is being built by General Electric, to meet 20 percent of Dubai’s electricity demand.
