UAE Plans Up to AED200 Billion in Energy Investment by 2030 as AI Raises Demand

The money is intended to meet rising demand and strengthen infrastructure, including generation capacity, electricity networks, storage and integrated system operations. Speaking on a ministerial panel themed "Energy Security Is National Security," Al Mazrouei listed the growing energy needs of advanced industries, artificial intelligence and data centres among the pressures on supply, alongside geopolitical uncertainty and rising global demand.

"Our priority is to make energy a lasting competitive advantage for the UAE by aligning investment with industrial development, technological advancement, and long-term sustainability," he said.

The minister said renewables, nuclear power and natural gas would play complementary roles. Clean energy made up 32.4 percent of the UAE's electricity generation in 2025, against a national target of 35 percent by 2031, according to WAM.

He also said physical security, cybersecurity, climate resilience and business continuity should be built into energy planning. He called for local manufacturing capacity, reliable access to critical equipment and more flexibility across supply and demand, including the integration of storage and networks.

Why It Matters

The plan arrives as the UAE positions itself as a major site for AI compute, a push that depends on large amounts of reliable power. Abu Dhabi is hosting a series of AI infrastructure projects, and at the same ADIPEC event OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman named energy as the biggest constraint on AI. A capital programme of this size for generation, grids and storage is a signal to data centre developers, equipment suppliers and investors about how much grid capacity the country intends to add before the end of the decade.