IRENA goes to Masdar City

The new International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is to be located in Masdar City, the world's first zero-carbon city which is currently taking shape in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This will no doubt be a great bonus for Masdar City – it’s a natural choice, given its eco-credentials – however you have to wonder about all the horse-trading that went on behind the scenes. The Germans were pushing for Bonn to be the IRENA headquarters, and had put their weight behind the Danish renewable-energy expert Hans Jørgen Koch to head the new group. Instead, the French candidate, Hélène Pelosse, was chosen as the new head of the emerging agency. But guess what? France only decided to vote for Abu Dhabi after “inking a multi-billion dollar nuclear-power deal with the emirate”, according to Rechargenews.com. So now the suspicion is that the French will be pushing for nuclear power to be included in IRENA’s policy framework. As that well-known French saying goes, “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose…..(‘the more things change, the more they stay the same”).