Saudi Arabia Plans $5bn Hydrogen Plant
As governments and industries seek less-polluting alternatives to hydrocarbons, the world’s biggest crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, has said it is building a $5 billion plant powered entirely by sun and wind.
The project will be among the world’s biggest green hydrogen projects when it opens in the planned megacity of Neom in 2025.
The task of turning a patch of desert the size of Belgium into a metropolis powered by renewable energy is being handled to Peter Terium, the former chief executive officer of RWE AG, Germany’s biggest utility, and clean-energy spinoff Innogy SE.
Hydrogen is morphing from a niche power source — used in zeppelins, rockets and nuclear weapons — into big business, with the European Union alone committing $500 billion to scale up its infrastructure.
But huge obstacles remain to the gas becoming a major part of the energy transition, and skeptics point to Saudi Arabia’s weak track record so far capitalising on what should be a competitive edge in the renewables business, especially solar, where there are many plans but few operational projects.
“There’s nothing I’ve ever seen or heard of this dimension or challenge. I’ve been spending the last two years wrapping my mind around ‘from scratch,’ and now we’re very much in execution mode,” Terium told Bloomberg.
With the project, Saudi Arabia is setting its sights on becoming the world’s largest supplier of hydrogen — a market that is estimated to be worth as much as $700 billion by 2050.
“You’re seeing a more diversified portfolio of energy exports that is more resilient,” said Shihab Elborai, a Dubai-based partner at consultant”, saying that “It’s diversified against any uncertainties in the rate and timing of the energy transition.”
Blueprints are being drawn and strategies are being announced, but it’s still early days for the industry as hydrogen is expensive to make without expelling greenhouse gases, difficult to store and highly combustible.
Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, while the current cost of producing a kilogramme is a little under $5, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Saudi Arabia possesses a competitive advantage in its perpetual sunshine and wind, and vast tracts of unused land.
It’s more expensive to produce renewable energy in Europe, and the continent’s anticipated demand while implementing a Green Deal should exceed its own supply, Terium said.
Participants at the virtual stakeholders’ engagement forum organised recently by Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev) has stressed the need for basic digital literacy skills for rural clusters in Northern Nigeria.
The forum served as part of activities to end weeks of training on the basic digital literacy for rural clusters in northern Nigeria.
The training, which was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), held across 10 states in northern Nigeria, which include Zamfara, Kaduna, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Sokoto, Jigawa,
Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau states. In her opening remarks, the Head of Prosperity Fund Nigeria, Martha Bostock, expressed delight over the progress of the program and its impact on the lives of the beneficiaries, especially the vulnerable women and girls, and other vulnerable groups.
According to her, “The UK Government is committed to supporting the advancement of the use of technology in Nigeria through various programs it is implementing with partners.”
She also placed emphasis on how technology has created opportunities and leverage for vulnerable groups especially considering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The organisers also launched a handbook and factsheet which was an offshoot of the just completed Basic Digital Literacy for Rural Clusters in Northern Nigeria.
The handbook highlights insights and learnings from the program, which they encourage other like-minded organisations in the skills development space to deploy as a framework for such initiatives in the country and Africa at large.
The Handbook and Factsheet were launched by the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clement Agba, who reiterated the importance of partnerships that drive towards ensuring the availability of opportunities for underserved communities and positively impacts the quality of human capital within the country.
Speaking during the presentation of key learnings and challenges from the Factsheet, Executive Director at Tech4Dev, Diwura Oladepo, reiterated that the focus was to get as many Nigerians as possible, especially in the rural areas to become digital literate. “The world is fast moving, and we must move with it. It is true that there are a lot of gaps that affect our work, but we must work with what we have, to achieve the results we want. Support from government and community stakeholders has helped to amplify impact and we believe the lessons learnt will inform the scalability of our efforts,” Oladepo, said.