September 2024

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (the Resource Centre)’s mapping of the renewable energy landscape in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) provides a resource to all stakeholders, including civil society, businesses, investors, international institutions, and academics, to improve migrants’ rights and worker welfare in the region. It aims to facilitate a people-centered just transition, both globally and specifically within the GCC – one that is not only fast, but also fair. The Portal uses the below methodology.

Sources

The dataset relies on information published in credible news outlets using English language sources. Key outlets include, but are not limited to, Arabian Business Construction Week Online, ET Energy World, Gulf Business, Renewables Now, Solar Quarter, and Utilities Middle East. Data is tracked through monthly desk reviews and updated on a quarterly basis.

Scope

Projects: Solar, wind & green hydrogen production

The Portal includes solar, wind, and green hydrogen projects powered by solar or wind, that are over 100MW and have been planned, constructed or operational from 2013 - when renewable energy capacity in the region was “close to zero” and since when it has rapidly increased.

The project focuses on solar and wind power as, to date, most of the region’s installed and planned capacity comes from these forms of renewable resource. In line with the IPCC, the Resource Centre acknowledges wind and solar energies are the primary mitigation options to transition away from fossil fuels; the Portal also draws on lessons from green hydrogen projects, given these projects have a significant presence in the region.

Excluded projects include:

• Those relating to low-carbon energy transition technologies, such as electrical vehicles and heating, carbon capture, and nuclear;
• Renewables projects under 100MW; and,
• Renewable projects completed before 2013.

The following Project data is tracked:

• Name: For projects with multiple names, the name most frequently or recently used is entered
• Location: By country and sub-location (city, emirate or governate).
• Project type: Solar, wind or green hydrogen production (currently)
• Development phase: Projects are either planned, under construction or operational. The date the projects became, or are anticipated to become, operational, is also recorded.
• Capacity: The project’s capacity to generate energy, measured in megawatts
• Corporate stakeholders: including all companies (whether public, private or state-owned) involved in the planning, parts supply, construction and ongoing maintenance of the project (see below for classifications).
• Project company name: The name of the consortium developing the project (often a joint venture and called the ‘project company’), where applicable. It is not regarded as a separate stakeholder distinct from the companies that formed it.

Companies

The Portal monitors companies’ involvement* in the construction and maintenance of renewable energy and green hydrogen projects. This currently includes:

• Developer: Awarded contracts to invest in and/or develop the project. Often companies form joint ventures to co-develop the project through a ‘project company’. Project companies are not regarded as separate stakeholders distinct from the companies that form them.
• Construction / engineering contractor: Includes engineering, procurement and construction contractors, operations and maintenance and other construction contracts appointed by the developer(s) to manage the project’s construction and engineering, included sub-contracted construction companies.
• Off taker: Often state utility companies, off takers buy the electricity generated from the project through a power purchasing agreement.
• Advisor: Environmental Social Impact Assessment advisors, project management, legal, financial and Technical consultants.
• Financiers: Local, regional and international banks financing projects, such as through the provision of loans.
• Parts suppliers: Suppliers of solar modules, wind turbines, and other parts required for renewable energy project construction and maintenance.

The Portal focuses on the construction and maintenance of renewables projects, including the financing of the projects and the supply of parts required for project construction and maintenance. The sourcing of raw materials and parts manufacturing are not included, beyond the tier one supplier of parts to the project.

A host of additional subcontractors employing migrants also work on these projects. These companies are not currently captured in the database due to a lack of public reporting naming the companies awarded work, including subcontracted security companies, maintenance companies, transport companies, construction subcontractors, and labour suppliers.

Poor industry transparency

While the Portal improves transparency by identifying large renewable energy developers and contractors, information on the network of subcontractors and service providers headquartered locally and often employing workers directly is, to date, not publicly available. This lack of transparency means the Portal largely captures companies at the top of renewable energy value chains. It is these companies, however, who hold the greatest leverage and power to effect change. If supply chain transparency increases in the industry, then data on smaller, locally headquartered, firms hiring workers directly will also be captured. This will, in turn, help stakeholders access information on, and mitigate, human rights risks and violations obscured by multiple layers of subcontracting.

The Portal includes projects in the early stages of development, including projects announced without further details, such as completion date or total investment for each project. The lack of known data in relation to operational dates and investment is taken into account in data analysis to mitigate bias regarding predicted future capacity or investment.

The prevalence of projects in early stages of development also means the database includes companies which have indicated their involvement in a project but have not yet signed a contract. To mitigate the risk of companies being included in the Portal who then do not conduct work on renewables projects, researchers frequently update the Portal on an ongoing basis to remove companies no longer involved in projects.

For further information, to highlight information that is not yet included in the Portal or for data requests, please contact us.

* ‘Involvement’ includes, but is not limited to, companies which sign a contract or are assigned to a project; companies which publicly commit to develop or work on a project, prior to signing a contract , such as through a letter of intent to co-develop a project; and companies which provide financial or advisory services to project stakeholders, including through the provision of loans or other funding sources.