The United Arab Emirates has raised its clean-energy target to 35 percent by 2030–2031, covering both nuclear and renewable energy, Energy and Infrastructure Minister Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei said. The Emirates News Agency (WAM) published the interview on 1 September, around the opening of Middle East Energy 2026 in Dubai. The stated scope is broader than renewables alone: nuclear power is included in the minister’s description. The announcement sets out a policy target and does not say that the target has already been achieved or that the current energy mix stands at 35 percent.

Al Mazrouei said reaching the target would require new projects, stronger competition and broader opportunities for private companies in power generation. He also said the UAE monitors and updates its energy strategy as costs decline and technology advances. That framing suggests the target may depend on changes in generation investment and market arrangements together, rather than one technology or project announcement. The interview does not list the specific facilities, financing amounts, annual milestones or individual shares of each energy source that would deliver the target. The 35 percent figure should therefore be understood as the national direction and timetable described by the minister, rather than a detailed project schedule.

The minister said continued development of grids and new power plants is intended to reduce losses, improve efficiency and contain electricity selling prices. He noted that renewable energy costs have declined as projects expand and technology develops. He also said batteries can now store electricity for as long as 24 hours at competitive prices, compared with two or three hours previously, and argued that this enables solar to provide round-the-clock supply. Those storage and cost statements are the minister’s assessment in the interview. WAM did not publish an independent system test or performance data from a named battery installation alongside the claim.

On private participation, Al Mazrouei said the UAE’s decision to open power generation to private investment decades ago helped reduce costs, strengthen competition and apply governance standards. He cited Masdar, Etihad and other national companies as businesses that compete for international projects. WAM also reported his description of a long-term strategy to diversify generation and maintain sufficient surplus capacity to meet population needs in different circumstances. The interview does not state the present private-sector share of generation or the volume of contracts planned during the new target period. The call for broader opportunities is consequently a statement of policy direction, not a quantified commitment to a particular level of private participation.

Al Mazrouei said the future energy system would expand cleaner sources, strengthen electricity interconnections between countries, improve transmission efficiency and reduce network losses. Middle East Energy 2026 brought together 1,500 exhibitors from 70 countries, while the ministry presented its strategies and legislative framework, according to WAM. The exhibition context does not itself represent a new capacity or investment decision tied to the target. Assessing progress will require subsequent reporting on the generation mix, projects entering service, grid investment and storage performance. The interview provides no interim-results table or monitoring indicators for those measures.