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Egypt Today
Two memoranda of understandings were signed by Egypt and UAE on Sunday to develop green hydrogen plants in the economic zone of Suez Canal.
The agreements were signed between Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority, the Egyptian Sovereign Fund, the Egyptian Company for Electricity, the Renewable Energy Authority, and Hassan Allam Utilities (from Egypt), and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar).
Masdar and Hassan Allam Utilities will form a strategic alliance to develop green hydrogen plants in the economic zone of Suez Canal and on the Mediterranean coast. Developments will be completed on several stages stretching up to the year 2030. The alliance aims to produce up to 480,000 tons of green hydrogen annually through electrolysers with a capacity of four gigawatts.
The first phase of the project will establish a green hydrogen station by 2026. It would produce 10,000 tons of green methanol annually to supply shipping vessels in the Suez Canal zone and on the Mediterranean. 2.3 million tons of green ammonia would be produced for export purposes, besides supplying local industries with green hydrogen.
Hydrogen must be chemically separated from other elements to be used in fertilizers, oil refining and as clean fuel. If used as fuel, its only by-product would be harmless water.
In a world dependent on fossil fuel, hydrogen is normally produced by reforming natural gas, where methane and steam react at a high temperature yielding hydrogen and carbon dioxide. For every one kilogram of hydrogen, 10 kilograms of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change. This form of hydrogen is called grey hydrogen.
The production of green hydrogen, on the other hand, would help decarbonate the planet. When electricity is obtained from a renewable source such as the wind or the sun, and that electrical current passes through an electrolyser in the water, hydrogen is separated from oxygen in a completely eco-friendly process.
Egypt will host COP27 in 2022, while the UAE will host COP28 in 2023. The two countries have intensified cooperation on environmentally friendly practices and projects in preparation for the two United Nations conferences.
