The United Arab Emirates has been moving forward with construction of “the first green hydrogen plant in the Middle East”. Testing is presently underway, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said on Tuesday.
The minister, who was speaking at a private business event at the Expo 2020 world fair in Dubai, gave no further details about the plans.
The UAE has previously stated that it aims to capture 25% of the global hydrogen energy market by 2030 and is moving forward with seven ambitious hydrogen projects, targeting major import requests from countries including Japan, South Korea, Germany and India, the state news agency WAM reported last week.
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It also has a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and has said it plans to earmark 600 billion dirhams ($163 billion) in investment in renewable energy.
Asked by journalists about US plans to release strategic oil reserves to cool surging energy prices, the minister said the UAE saw “no sense” in adding its own output because of global requests at the moment.
Another recent development is that UAE and Saudi daily hydrogen production prices are now tracked by S&P Global Platts. Analysts see this as confirmation of how serious the region is about hydrogen production.
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