Siemens Energy has signed MoUs with Mubadala Investment Company and Masdar City to advance the development of green hydrogen in the region.
The two agreements with Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi state-owned global investment firm, and renewable energy developer Masdar and other partners are focussed on accelerating the development of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels production and use within the UAE and beyond.
Goals include driving down the costs and green hydrogen and synthetic fuels production, establishing Abu Dhabi as a world player in the technology and establishing a local green hydrogen economy.
“These significant agreements highlight the importance of collaboration with a strong and diverse group of partners across industrial sectors, to drive forward and realise the potential of green hydrogen in decarbonisation,” said Armin Schnettler, Executive Vice President of the New Energy Business at Siemens Energy.
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“The UAE’s visionary leadership is creating the solid foundations for a successful green hydrogen economy and is the base for a new ecosystem.”
The partnership with Mubadala is aimed to drive investment and development of advanced technology, the manufacture of equipment and production of green hydrogen and synthetic fuel.
Goals include utilising renewable energy to produce green hydrogen and derivatives, including synthetic fuels, and providing clean and transportable energy to fuel new hydrogen-based ecosystems that are supplied from the UAE.
The initial focus of activity will be in Abu Dhabi and over time it is planned that this is extended to other international markets.
Masdar hydrogen electrolyser
The first initiative of the partnership will be to establish, under the agreement with Masdar and other partners, a solar PV-powered electrolyser facility at Masdar City to demonstrate state-of-the-art green hydrogen production technology and sustainable fuel use cases.
The first phase of the demonstration will focus on the production of green hydrogen for passenger cars and buses in the Masdar City area. In parallel, a kerosene synthesis plant will be built to convert the majority of the green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel.
In the second phase of the programme, the production of decarbonised fuels for the maritime sector will be explored.
Other partners in the Masdar agreement, which is aimed to support the development of a green hydrogen economy in the UAE, are the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Marubeni Corporation and Khalifa University.
“We are proud that Siemens Energy is being recognised as the partner of choice. We look forward to developing and leveraging the many applications of green hydrogen throughout the value chain,” said Dietmar Siersdorfer, Managing Director Siemens Energy Middle East.
Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance
Alongside the Siemens partnership, Mubadala along with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and enterprise holding company ADQ are establishing the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance.
The Alliance will collaborate on the development of a hydrogen economy in the UAE and will develop a roadmap to accelerate the country’s adoption and use of hydrogen in sectors such as utilities, mobility and industry.
“We are actively engaged in a number of new energy investments that will contribute to more efficient and lower emission energy solutions. Hydrogen offers significant potential in this regard and with the renewables expertise and experience of Masdar, we are well placed to develop leadership in the green hydrogen value chain,” said H.E. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mubadala.
