GIS

Dubai opens world’s largest solar-powered data centre

Dubai has inaugurated the largest solarpowered data centre in the world at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in the emirate. The centre is operated by the Moro Hub, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa).

It is designed to provide nextgeneration services in the areas of digital transformation, cloud and hosting services, cybersecurity, smart cities, internet of things (IoT) services and professional and managed services, as well as Moro services supported by ChatGPT technology.

The data centre also supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Emissions Strategy 2050 to generate 100 per cent of its energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050. The centre uses latest developments in the area of internet of things (IoT), cybersecurity, digital twins, artificial intelligence (AI), cyber recovery-as-a-service, networkas-a-service as well as the Moro Open Cloud. https://gulfbusiness.com

Siemens partners with Swinburne University

Siemens and Swinburne University of Technology have agreed to set up the most advanced future Energy Transition Hub of its kind in Australia in at the University’s Hawthorn campus in Melbourne. The $5.2 million Hub aims to build a future energy grid laboratory accessible to students and industry. When fully operational, it will also offer researchers and industry the opportunity to work on solutions for greener, more efficient future energy systems. The Hub will enable users to leverage digital twins of energy grids, map scenarios, research new findings, develop original and creative hypotheses, and test results. It will be home to a digital twin of Australia’s energy grid that commercial research teams can use to run simulations of new, innovative solutions and software. siemens.com

UN agreement on protecting marine biodiversity

After years of negotiations, the member states of the United Nations have finally reached an agreement on the conservation of biodiversity in the oceans. The High Seas Treaty must protect international waters, which make up about two thirds of the ocean surface.

Two thirds of the oceans lie outside countries’ exclusive economic zones and belong to the high seas. These are largely areas outside national jurisdiction. While the good health of marine ecosystems is critical to life on Earth, only 1% are currently protected. The agreement aims to change that and is seen as essential to achieving the goal agreed in December to protect 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030.

In seven years’ time, 30% of that open sea must therefore be protected so that underwater life is preserved and can also recover. It is essential that fishing, shipping and deep-sea mining are restricted in these protected areas. The ‘historic treaty’ also contains agreements on comprehensive environmental impact assessments. This includes aspects from acidification to underwater noise to overfishing to pollution. The treaty will allow a single ecosystem approach to be taken that collectively covers all these issues. https://news.un.org

Royal Navy enters the Metaverse

The Royal Navy is embracing Virtual Reality to train sailors of tomorrow in cutting-edge new navigation simulators. Sailors will don headsets to take them into a naval ‘metaverse’ immersing them in key – and sometimes dangerous – manoeuvres, all from the safety of a naval base. The VR headsets will be just one facet of new state-of-the-art replica ship’s bridges, with software capable of recreating the entire fleet, harbours and waters around the globe, and challenging weather conditions by day and night. www.royalnavy.mod.uk