UAE is building 'first green hydrogen plant' in Middle East

Green hydrogen, created by splitting water into two components is viewed as fuel of future to reduce carbon emissions

The United Arab Emirates has started building “the first green hydrogen plant in the Middle East” and testing is currently underway, 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.

So-called green hydrogen, created by splitting water into its two components using electricity from renewable energy sources, is increasingly viewed as a fuel of the future to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

The UAE aims to capture 25% of the global hydrogen fuel market by 2030 and is implementing more than seven ambitious hydrogen projects, targeting major export markets including Japan, South Korea, Germany and India, the state news agency WAM reported last week.

It also has a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and has said it would oversee 600 billion dirhams ($163 billion) in investment in renewable energy.

Asked later by reporters about US plans to release emergency oil reserves to cool surging energy prices, the minister said the UAE saw “no logic” in increasing its own contributions to global markets at the moment.

He said technical data gathered ahead of an upcoming OPEC+ meeting in December pointed to an oil surplus in the first quarter of 2022.

There should also be no worry about supplies in the second quarter of 2022, he added.