Powering up

Born and raised in the UAE, Khan has seen the country’s economy grow at an unprecedented pace in recent decades. His role at Masdar gives him a unique perspective on not only his industry, but financing, the climate transition, what it is to be an accountant in the current era and, of course, working in a country attempting to transform itself at what seems like light speed. But there’s little room for error.

‘It has be fast,’ says Khan of both economic and company development. ‘But it has to be calculated at the same time; it has to be done in a way that is profitable and commercially viable in the longer term. Making sure you make the right decisions quickly comes with its own challenges – it’s not the easiest combination.’

World-spanning

Today, Masdar (also known as Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) operates over six continents. It has operations in the UAE, as far west as the US and as far east as Indonesia. Committed to delivering commercially viable and innovative projects in solar, wind, geothermal energy, and in energy storage, to date it has developed projects in more than 40 countries.

Headline revenue for 2024 was 3,422m UAE dirhams (around US$931m) but that figure, hefty though it is, belies the true scale of what is underway at Masdar. This year, the company broke ground on an enormous plant combining a 5.2 gigawatt (GW) solar facility with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery energy storage system. The project will deliver 1GW of stable 24/7 renewable power and, when up and running in 2027, will save 5.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

As a company, Masdar’s total capacity is currently 65GW worldwide, but its ambition is to reach 100GW by 2030. To put that in context, an average nuclear power plant produces 1GW.

Capital king

Such a rate of growth hinges not just on detailed financial planning, but also innovative programmes to raise the capital to buy and build that portfolio. That places Khan in a pivotal position as the financial conductor for Masdar’s growth.

Khan says the business plan is ‘absolutely critical’ because it creates the company’s ‘roadmap’ for achieving its aims. But the plan must address funding too.

Khan uses long-term power purchase agreements and green bonds to ensure capital keeps flowing to Masdar’s projects. ‘The availability of capital is extremely important, or is one of the biggest challenges, and that’s where you need to really think out of the box,’ he says.

Masdar’s green bonds are differentiated from comparable instruments as proceeds are only used for investment in new, ground-up renewable energy projects that directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ‘We’re able to go to debt investors in the markets and basically say every single dollar you give us will go to making the world a better place, to reducing carbon emissions,’ says Khan.

Biggest risks

Despite the importance of accessing capital and the innovation involved in it, capital is not necessarily top of Khan’s risk register as CFO. Deals are oversubscribed and, given the rising demand for renewable energy, investors are happy to plug in. Even the geopolitical situation has merely heightened demand as policymakers not only target climate transition but also look for ways to make their energy supplies more resilient to disruption and less reliant on fossil fuel suppliers. That represents a ‘win-win’ for Masdar, Khan says.

The biggest risks lie beyond the capital markets, and are to be found in grid capacity and the transmission infrastructure, and regulation.

Grid capacity is an issue because although Masdar can generate the energy, it then has to be distributed. ‘We’ve seen a significant drive to invest in grid activity, and that’s a challenge globally,’ Khan says.

Deploying solar farms, wind turbines and battery sites can be a relatively quick process, but regulation in some jurisdictions can be slow to keep up. ‘The pace at which regulatory bodies move can be slow and bureaucratic,’ Khan says, adding that the company has been working with rule-makers to help.

Cutting edge

Khan gives every sign of someone who enters work fully charged every single day. He says he is driven by being wired into a company that is evolving at speed and energised by sharing ideas with his international peers. ‘It’s really exciting to see how things work in different parts of the world.’

His role at Masdar is heavily strategic – there is no room to remain within a safe accountancy niche, although he clearly relishes the challenge of having to ‘step out of my comfort zone’ to find ‘creative solutions’.

‘When you start addressing those challenges,’ he says, reflecting on the role of accountants, ‘you really understand and appreciate that only someone with a finance mindset is able to identify the opportunities.’

As a result, it is not just Masdar that is growing. ‘I’ve grown as a strategic contributor, as a strategic member of the leadership team as well,’ Khan says. ‘I’ve grown on a personal level just by the sheer exposure, the number of people that you interact with. You have to learn how to get the best from everyone – and be the best with them – globally.’