France’s Engie and Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy business Masdar have established a strategic alliance focused on the development of projects related to green hydrogen. In an, the companies said the agreement would explore the co-development of a UAE-based green hydrogen hub. While fine details of the plan were relatively sparse, the firms will look to develop projects with an electrolyser capacity of 2 gigawatts. Engie and Masdar said they would leverage existing infrastructure to “initially target local supply, with the aim of expanding capacity to create a giga-scale green hydrogen hub for the GCC, with the potential to export to other markets.” Hydrogen has a diverse range of applications and can be deployed in a wide range of industries. It can be produced in several ways. One method includes using electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity used in this process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar then some call it green or renewable hydrogen.
A member of oil cartel OPEC, the United Arab Emirates is a significant producer of crude and gas. It’s also blessed with huge amounts of sunshine — the crucial ingredient for solar power installations. Siemens Energy said power for the pilot project would come from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, a vast solar facility slated to have a production capacity of 5,000 megawatts by 2030. The agreement between Engie and Masdar, announced followed hot on the heels of news that Spanish power company Iberdrola and Sweden’s H2 Green Steel were to partner and develop a major facility that will produce green hydrogen. Hydrogen today is a niche, and it is a niche that needs to develop into commercial standard and into … big industry, competitive pricing.