Saudi Arabia to invest over $200 billion in clean energy – Reuters
Saudi Arabia's energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman announced the kingdom’s ambition to invest around 1 trillion riyals ($266 billion) to produce and export clean hydrogen.
PHOTO: Illustration of the Oxagon port city planned to be powered entirely by renewable energy in the NEOM planned development project. NEOM
He added that the investment will also be directed towards improving supply infrastructure, such as adding distribution and transport lines.
According to him, the world’s biggest oil producer aims to become the leading exporter of clean hydrogen soon.
In his recent speech at Riyadh's International Mining Conference, Abdulaziz stated that Saudi Arabia invested substantially in carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) projects. He also noted that the kingdom is positioned to become a “global leader” in clean energy, including hydrocarbons, renewable energy, and clean hydrogen” as a complement to its conventional oil and gas industry.
Saudi Arabia's ambition to dominate clean energy is already taking shape with the construction of a green hydrogen mega-plant in the futuristic city of NEOM on the Northwestern Red Sea coast.
The mega-plant will utilise 4 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power to produce, starting in 2026, up to 1.2 million mt/year of green ammonia, which translates to around 600 mt/day of green hydrogen.
Ownership of the hydrogen facility will be held by NEOM Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC). NGHC is a joint venture between NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s largest private sector power generation company ACWA Power and US-based hydrogen producer Air Products.
Energy research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie's forecast for 2023 predicted that Middle Eastern countries would increase their investments in low-carbon energy, such as hydrogen and CCUS. According to the report, the "wave" of investment would be similar to that seen in the UK and Europe before COP26.
By Konica Bhatt
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