A bright future
The regional energy landscape has gone through layers of disruption to evolve into its current form. As the demand side of the equation evolved, a departure from the traditional way of powering the world’s energy needs was witnessed through an accelerated uptake of digital interventions and a marked shift towards ‘cleaner’ options. Companies across the industry spectrum adopted indigenous, technology-driven solutions for operational benefits and sustainability.
Painting a green picture
Amid larger economic recovery and regenerative strategies, a number of stakeholders are keen to build a future without the cloud of climatic cataclysm. Hydrogen is a resourceful fuel and can be used in several ways across the entire energy spectrum, but the traditional way of producing it entails substantial carbon emissions. However, it does draw a crucial link between traditional and sustainable fuels and, in its lowcarbon form, could possibly signal the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future.
Hence clean hydrogen has now secured a major spot within the future’s energy drawing board. While blue hydrogen, in which carbon emissions are captured and stored, is one option, the cleanest alternative is green hydrogen, which is created when renewable energy is used to split water molecules via electrolysis.
“For a sustainable future, we will need a mix of fuels and energy sources, depending on the application and environment, to ensure we can get to net zero quickly and cost effectively,” opines Jonathan Carpenter, vice president of New Energy Services at Petrofac.
“The Gulf has enormous renewable energy resources – particularly solar – that will be increasingly harnessed for domestic power generation and needs. Potentially, green hydrogen, green ammonia and green methanol can also be produced for export. However, this will be constrained by freshwater availability in the region and desalination plant deployments. As a result, the Gulf has the opportunity to remain a major energy exporter for the foreseeable future, while also providing clean, low cost and abundant energy domestically which can be a catalyst for further economic growth and development,” he adds.
Stakeholders across local and regional countries have shown intent to pursue sustainable fuels. In May, UAE firm Bee’ah announced that it will be pursuing the region’s first waste-to-hydrogen project, which includes a green hydrogen generation plant and a hydrogen vehicle fuelling station, in collaboration with UK-based Chinook Sciences. Earlier this year, Mubadala Investment Company, state-owned ADNOC and ADQ formed the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance to develop a roadmap to accelerate the country’s adoption and use of hydrogen in major sectors. Oman’s OQ too announced recently that, as part of an international consortium, it is developing one of the biggest green fuel projects in the world.
Saudi Arabia also has ambitious plans – it aims to develop the world’s largest green hydrogen project after an agreement was signed between Air Products, ACWA Power and NEOM last year. The $5bn green hydrogen-based ammonia production facility will be located in NEOM and will produce green ammonia for export to global markets.
Meanwhile, an Abu Dhabi Ports’ subsidiary also announced the formation of a green ammonia production facility, in which privately-owned Helios Industry plans to invest over $1bn. The plant will use solar power to electrolyse water and split molecules, and at peak capacity, release 40,000 tonnes of green hydrogen, which will be used to produce 200,000 tonnes of green ammonia.
While green hydrogen does inspire hope, the technology to produce it remains expensive. A study by Strategy&, part of the PwC network, reveals that green hydrogen is currently more