Abu Dhabi Masdar research chief quits: sources

Tariq Ali quit as head of research at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology after a year in the post, said two people familiar with the matter, the latest departure from Abu Dhabi’s flagship renewable energy project.

Dan Weisser, head of real-estate investments at Masdar City, and head of the programme management department Alistair Murray are also leaving, two people familiar said, declining to be identified because they are not authorised to speak with the media.

The resignations follow a strategic review of Masdar, a $22 billion venture funded by the government of Abu Dhabi as it seeks to become an international hub for renewable energy. Founded in 2006, Masdar includes a research university as well as units that plan to invest in carbon capture and storage and solar power in a country that has one of the world’s highest carbon footprints per capita.

“It is well-known that the company was reconsidering the original plans for Masdar City,” said Eckart Woertz, an economist at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. Resignations “might hint to some problems at the university, but a lot of the renewable energy projects will go ahead as planned,” Woertz said, referring to an accord Masdar signed June 9 with Total SA and Abengoa SA to build the Middle East’s biggest solar plant.

Masdar is the showpiece of Abu Dhabi’s pursuit of alternative energy. Holder of most of the oil and gas reserves in the United Arab Emirates, the fifth-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Abu Dhabi is also building nuclear power plants and successfully lobbied to host the International Renewable Energy Agency headquarters.

The first departures began around the same time as the review, which took place in 2009. The resignations of Ziad Tassabehji, Masdar’s director of innovation and investments at Masdar City, and Khaled Awad, director of property development, were confirmed in February.

The initial strategy envisioned for Masdar was “very ambitious,” Chief Executive Officer Sultan Al Jaber said earlier this month.

Ali, 46, will leave his position as Vice President for Research and Industry Relations at the Masdar Institute, a joint venture with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at the end of July and is looking for other positions in the emirate, the people said.

Ali is a former UK government energy adviser and director of London’s Imperial College Energy and Environment Office.

Ali and Murray declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg, and Weisser did not answer calls to his mobile phone. A spokesman for Masdar said the company doesn’t comment on people who are leaving to protect their privacy.

Masdar Institute, a graduate-level university for renewable energy research that opened last September, is envisioned as the centerpiece of Masdar. The curriculum and programs have been developed with MIT and the number of students is expected to multiply tenfold to 800 by 2015.

Masdar City itself will house all the renewable energy initiatives. Designed by London-based architects Foster and Partners Ltd, it includes plans such as the elimination of cars and trucks at street level and shaded walkways in a nation that endures temperatures of well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) during summer months.

The UAE has the world’s worst per-capita “ecological footprint,” the World Wildlife Fund said in 2007 report based on 2003 data. The so-called footprint measures stress put on the environment by each country using indicators like carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.