Bee’ah Appoints Masdar to Power Iconic New Headquarters with Solar Energy

Bee’ah, the Middle East’s leading sustainability pioneer, will power its iconic new headquarters in Sharjah with solar energy, reinforcing its commitment to championing sustainability and innovation. The plant will be developed and built by Masdar, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, and backed by Tesla Powerpacks that will store excess energy to power the headquarters by night.

Bee’ah and Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, signed the contract to appoint Masdar to develop the ground-mounted solar power plant at Bee’ah’s new headquarters on the sidelines of WETEX. The agreement was signed by Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, and HE Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of Bee’ah.

The Zaha Hadid-designed building will also be the first AI-powered building in the UAE. Scheduled for completion in 2020, it aims to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Through ensuring the building is powered by renewable energy, Bee’ah takes a step closer to realizing this achievement. 

“Sustainability is at the heart of our business and powering our new headquarters with clean energy is an important touchstone for us. Our new headquarters will embody our operational excellence in sustainability and technology as we strive to lead by example. Our deployment of solar energy will also contribute towards the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to increase the share of clean energy in the UAE’s total energy mix from 25 per cent to 50 per cent by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent.

“We are proud to work with Masdar, a global leader in pioneering and innovating clean energy solutions, which will design, build and operate our solar power generation plant that will supply the headquarters’ electricity requirements. We are also addressing the solar energy intermittency factor with Tesla Powerpacks that will store the excess solar energy from the panels and feed it back to the building when required. We are expecting this blend of renewable energy and storage will help us reduce our carbon footprint dramatically,” Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO at Bee’ah said.

“Today’s announcement further strengthens our existing relationship with Bee’ah, with whom we are developing the first waste-to-energy plant in the UAE,” said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar. “Having installed some of the first rooftop and ground-mounted solar panels on government properties in Abu Dhabi, and with more than a decade of experience applying green building solutions at our Masdar City home in Abu Dhabi, we are delighted to have been chosen to develop the solar power plant of the new Bee’ah headquarters. It is also a great honour to be associated with a building inspired by one of the world’s most celebrated architects.”

Bee’ah’s new headquarters building will also be equipped with a sweeping array of smart building solutions powered by Microsoft, using the Johnson Control Digital Vault offering, and deployed by Evoteq. Outfitted with intelligent edge systems, devices and software designed to optimize energy efficiency, Bee’ah aims to make the best use of available space and help the building’s occupants be more productive through a virtual AI persona and voice-activated interface. 

The clean energy strategy for the headquarters is a demonstration of Bee’ah’s commitment to adopting renewable energy technologies. Pioneering waste-to-energy technologies in the region, Bee’ah and Masdar had also partnered in 2017 to form the Emirates Waste to Energy Company. This company is currently building the UAE’s first waste-to-energy plant, which will divert 300,000 tonnes of waste away from Sharjah’s landfills every year, while powering around 28,000 houses. 

The Emirates Waste to Energy Company is also taking part at the leading global Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, from 21-23 October 2019. Visitors can learn more about the EWTE’s first waste-to-energy plant and other innovative clean energy projects at stand H79 in Zabeel Hall 3.