With TheMarker

It may sit on the oil-rich sands of the Middle East. But Abu Dhabi's leaders are looking beyond the sandy horizon and see a future of alternative energies.

The Abu Dhabi government plans to build the first solar power plant in the world's biggest oil exporting region, an investor in the project said on Sunday. Investment in the plant is estimated at $350 million.

The 500-megawatt plant would begin operations in 2009. It is part of Abu Dhabi's drive to cut dependence on hydrocarbon power generation, explained Sultan al-Jaber, chief executive of state-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co.

Future Energy, a subsidiary of government-owned Mubadala Development Co, and the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority will fund the plant with other investors.

Abu Dhabi holds more than 90% of the oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates, a seven-member petroleum-exporting federation.

The emirate eventually hopes to provide solar power to 10,000 homes and is setting up a special economic zone for the alternative energy industry, Jaber said:. "We...do not want to be 100 percent dependent on (hydrocarbon power)."

"We have an economic development program dedicated to establishing an entirely new economic sector focused on alternative energy and sustainable technologies," he added.

In other solar power news, NEPC India launched what it calls "the world's first Solar Power House". The goal is to power a home, or business, solely from environmentally friendly materials: no fuel or coal or fossil anything, just wind and sun.