GE and Mubadala Development Company, headquartered in Abu Dhabi have announced a multi billion dollar partnership. GE will put up to $50 million into Masdar’s second Clean-Tech Fund and establish a clean energy technology center in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s planned $22 billion zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city.Mubadala is the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government. The development group also controls the Masdar initiative, the government’s umbrella group for all of its cleantech projects.

“It’s a natural to be involved in Masdar City,” said Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, in a conference call. “We expect to hire probably 100 technologists as that facility gets built and we can house them.”

“When I think about water desalination, solar energy, there’s no shortage of investments that we can make,” said Immelt.

“We have been very clear in our corporate strategy to say that we think renewable energy is core to the future of GE, as is clean water, and so I think some of those projects will be the early ones to inhabit the research center.”