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Egypt’s General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) has prepared a master plan for green hydrogen projects, which includes land allocations for electrolysis facilities, sea water supply, renewable energy plants, storage and export facilities in Ain Sokhna, the Zone’s chairman said.
SCZONE’s Chairman said the Zone concluded a number of framework agreements with international consortia for the production of green hydrogen.
Speaking at a ACWA Power-organised green hydrogen panel discussion at COP 27, he said certification to guarantee that the hydrogen is produced from green electricity [guarantee of origin certificates] will be provided by third party certification body.
For example, Germany-based testing, inspection and certification agency TUV Rheinland has accredited 138,000 tonnes of blue ammonia for Saudi’s Ma'aden to enable exports.
Ayman Soliman, Executive Director of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt said the fund is part of the group of Egyptian state entities that have signed green hydrogen framework agreements with international companies.
He said governments have a key role in removing the obstacles to participation of the private sector in green hydrogen projects and enable their financing, noting that participation of the sovereign fund in these projects is an attractive factor for international financiers.
Ahmed Badr, Director of Project Finance at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) pointed out renewable energy projects are key to making Egypt an exporter of clean energy in the form of green hydrogen or green ammonia.
He said Egypt’s emergence as a hub for producing and exporting clean energy will support global decarbonisation efforts in hard-to-abate industries like steel and cement to reach net zero by 2050.
Hassan Amin, Managing Director of ACWA Power – Egypt said the company has made great strides in the field of green hydrogen production, which includes the construction of NEOM Green Hydrogen Project, the world’s largest utility scale, commercially-based hydrogen facility powered entirely by renewable energy. He said the NEOM project will produce up to 1.2 million tonnes per year of green ammonia when commissioned in 2026.
In May, ACWA Power, Air Products and Oman-based integrated energy group OQ signed a joint development agreement for a world-scale green hydrogen-based ammonia production facility powered by renewable energy in the Sultanate.
(Writing by Marwa Abo Almajd; Editing by Anoop Menon)
