Isra-Mart srl:Hara pulls in landmark Abu Dhabi carbon management deal

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Isra-Mart srl news:

This week, environmental and energy management software startup Hara has announced one of the largest deals to date for the nascent carbon software sector, inking a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with the state-run Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA).

The Silicon Valley-based firm, which officially launched only 18 months ago, said the rollout of its software by ADWEA will help save the state $3bn over the next decade by improving energy management and cutting peak energy demand by over 4GW.

Hara's Environmental and Energy Management (EEM) software-as-a-service package provides firms with up to date information on their energy use and carbon emissions, as well as other environmental metrics, allowing them to track the success of green initiatives and model how new investments or business models would help to further reduce their impact.

The deal, which was announced on the sidelines of the UN climate change summit in Cancun, will see Hara provide monitoring of energy use at over 200,000 commercial and residential facilities across Abu Dhabi.

The company predicted the resulting savings would help cut energy use to a level where the state will be able to defer the construction of several 500MW gas-fired power stations, cutting carbon emissions by almost 10 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking 1.9 million cars off the road.

ADWEA Chairman, Sheikh Diab Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said the software would help underpin the state's wider environmental strategy, which aims to cut the emirate's carbon footprint while continuing to grow its fast-expanding economy.

The precise size of the deal was not disclosed, but it is expected to be amongst the largest ever recorded in the carbon management software sector.

In what is an increasingly competitive market, the deal also represents a further coup for Hara, which has secured backing from a host of high profile investors in recent years and has pulled in a raft of blue chip clients during its short history including Coca-Cola and News Corp.

In addition, the move will further bolster Abu Dhabi's plan to establish itself as a major clean tech hub built around its proposed Masdar zero carbon city development.