ADDED expands energy incentives programme to enhance manufacturers productivity and efficiency

As part of its efforts to deliver against the Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy, the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) has announced expansion of energy incentives programme to further enhance economic impact, boost productivity, and improve energy efficiency of manufacturers in the Emirate.

The Energy Tariff Incentive Programme 2.0 (ETIP 2.0) aims to support the industrial sector by offering preferential rates for gas and electricity, based on eligibility criteria that include economic impact, Emiratisation rate, and energy management efficiency.

ETIP 2.0 is an expansion of Electricity Tariff Incentive Programme, launched by ADDED’s Industrial Department Bureau (IDB) in 2019. Manufacturing entities earned (ETIP) certificates reached 55, with a total investment of AED24 billion, and the number of new joiners continues to grow especially as the programme was extended to include SMEs. The programme helped industrial facilities to increase productivity by 15 percent. Expanding the programme to include gas tariff will also reduce operations expenses.

It is a result of discussions with manufactures in the Emirate to meet their demands in providing competitive energy rates. Noteworthy, the annual consumption of gas by industrial sector is around 18.5 MMBTU.

ETIP 2.0 will offer gas and electricity to manufacturing entities with subsidised rates.

Manufacturing entities applying for energy incentives programme need to meet a set of criteria including economic impact, which will be measured by investments, rate of Emiratisation and highly skilled employees in industrial facilities’ workforce, and contribution to local value chain and logistics. In addition, they should demonstrate efficient energy management, high level of productivity, and remarkable role in creating new jobs.

Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of ADDED, said, “The Abu Dhabi industrial strategy has set ambitious objectives in its pursuit to establish the Emirate as the most competitive industrial hub in the region. To this end, we are rolling out initiatives to further enhance the manufacturing sector’s attractiveness to local, regional, and international investors by continuous enhancement of business ecosystem.”

“Our energy incentives programme is taking a new depth in order to address new realities in energy markets and industrial sector. Enhancing efficiency of energy consumption will support the industrial sector to increase its contribution to the GDP as we target to more than double it to AED172 billion by 2031. This programme also accentuates our transition towards a circular, smart, and sustainable economy as well as other pillars and transformational programmes of the industrial strategy including talent development- a top priority for us,” Al Shorafa added.

Recently, ADDED has launched land incentives programme, which offers long term lease contracts with rates as low as AED5 per square metre to promote manufacturers’ growth and development by enhancing capital expenditures and cash-flow management.

Source: WAM - Lina Ibrahim/ Amjad Saleh