The demand for electricity and water continues to grow due to population growth, expanding economic activity, emerging industries and climatic conditions.

According to the UAE State of Energy Report 2025, the UAE has significantly diversified its electricity mix. As of 2025, the country had approximately 13.8 GW of installed clean-energy capacity, comprising nuclear, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, waste-to-energy and wind. The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant alone supplies around 25% of national electricity demand, generating nearly 40 TWh of carbon-free electricity annually.

Under the updated UAE Energy Strategy 2050, the country aims for nearly one-third of its electricity generation to come from clean sources by 2030, alongside reducing energy demand by 42–45% and water demand by 50% by 2050 compared with the business-as-usual scenario.

The UAE has decided to diversify its energy mix in order to sustain its progress and at the same time minimise the environmental impact that may arise from burning fuel. Therefore, it was decided that the traditional sources of energy, being oil and gas should not be the main drivers of the economic process. In addition, the UAE is developing local expertise in these important technologies and fostering international cooperation and resource conservation.

While oil and gas have historically been the dominant fuels powering the UAE's economy, the UAE's energy sector is undergoing a transformation targeting the diversification of the UAE's energy mix.
The UAE generated approximately 192.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2025. Natural gas remained the largest source of generation, while clean energy—including nuclear power and renewables—accounted for 32.4% of total electricity generation, equivalent to more than 62.4 billion kilowatt-hours. The UAE is also strengthening interconnection and coordination among the electricity networks of the four national utilities to improve grid resilience, manage peak demand and support the integration of increasing renewable-energy capacity.
In 2025, the total installed capacity of electricity was 50 gigawatts (GW) including the distributed renewable energy. To meet the rising demand in a sustainable manner, the UAE is focusing on coming up with a balanced energy mix.

The UAE Energy Strategy 2050  targets an energy mix that combines renewable, nuclear and clean energy sources to meet the UAE’s economic requirements and environmental goals by 2031 as follows:

• 35 per cent clean energy (20 per cent nuclear. +15 per cent renewable.)
  
• 65 per cent gas
  
• 0 per cent clean coal
  

The UAE government aims to invest up to AED 200 billion by 2031 to meet the growing energy demand and ensure a sustainable growth for the country’s economy.

The UAE continues to rank among the leading countries in the International Solar Alliance’s Ease of Doing Solar Report, which assesses countries’ readiness and ability to support solar-energy development.
In the 2020 edition, the UAE was classified as an “Achiever”, the report’s highest performance category. It was one of only four Achievers among 80 assessed countries, placing it within a highly select group of global solar markets.
In the latest 2025 edition, the UAE retained its Achiever status among 123 assessed countries. It was one of 20 countries included in the report’s highest category, confirming its continued position among the world’s leading environments for solar-energy development.
The UAE’s continued classification as an Achiever reflects its sustained position among the world’s leading countries in enabling solar-energy development. This standing is particularly notable as the assessment expanded from 80 countries in 2020 to 123 countries in 2025.

Read more

• UAE Energy Strategy 2025
• Ease of Doing Solar Report 2025
• State of Energy Report 2025 (PDF, 56.5 MB) 

Source: Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.