Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with plan to be world’s top ‘green hydrogen’ producer

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is building a $5-billion green fuel plant for export in a bid to become the world’s largest supplier of hydrogen, Bloomberg reported.
The hydrogen plant will be located in the planned megacity of NEOM, which lies north of the Red Sea. It will be powered entirely by sun and wind, the report said.
“There’s nothing I’ve ever seen or heard of this dimension or challenge,” Peter Terium, who heads the energy, water, and food sector at NEOM, said.
“I’ve been spending the last two years wrapping my mind around ‘from scratch,’ and now we’re very much in execution mode,” he added.
The move comes as global demand for clean fuel surges, with superpowers such as China and Europe setting sights on the growing hydrogen business, which Bloomberg predicts to be worth as much as $700 billion by 2025.
The European Union alone earlier dedicated $500 billion as investment to hydrogen production, but experts suggested there were still major obstacles that hinder a global energy transition.
Many countries have expressed a desire to use the gas more, including the UK, China, Japan, and the US, highlighting the potential of the industry.
Energy experts reportedly described Saudi Arabia as the one to watch in the global race in the hydrogen scene, which could be attributed to the Kingdom’s geographical characteristics – “perpetual sunshine and wind, and vast tracts of unused lands.”
Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, and producing a kilogram of the gas currently costs about $5.
Saudi Arabia could drive this cost down to $1.5 per kilogram by 2030, according to Bloomberg’s energy research arm.