The UAE’s Permanent Representative to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Ms. Nawal Al Hosani expects the country to announce its plans for tapping green hydrogen in early 2021.
The UAE’s Permanent Representative to IRENA revealed that UAE has been thinking about different use cases for Hydrogen for some time now.
Green Hydrogen which is produced using renewable energy is considered as a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to Blue hydrogen which uses fossil fuels as resources for production.
“The UAE is open to all new and emerging technologies when it comes to diversifying its energy resources. We will be making announcements at the virtual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week next January,” Ms. Al Hosani remarked.
UAE’s neighbor Saudi Arabia, one of the largest producers of crude oil, is setting up the world’s largest renewable hydrogen project in its futuristic NEOM project.
Sharing his observations on the topic, UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Mr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi stated lower solar prices such as the record-low tariff of $0.0135/kWh achieved by the 2GW Al Dhafra solar project could boost production of green hydrogen.
Dubai, which had achieved the lowest global solar power prices five times at its Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, is also working on the Green Hydrogen project, the first solar-driven green hydrogen electrolysis facility in the MENA region.
IRENA’s Director-General Francesco La Camera mentioned that green hydrogen would be crucial to support the transition to zero emissions in energy-intensive sectors, such as industry and long-haul transport.
The ‘Reaching Zero with Renewables’ study published by IRENA in September remarked that renewable energy uptake would provide at least half of the emission cuts needed in the seven toughest sectors, namely iron and steel, aluminum, chemicals and petrochemicals, cement and lime, road freight, aviation and shipping.
“Renewables would form the bulk of the new energy system, and be complemented by bioenergy and green hydrogen,” Mr. La Camera stated.
