UAE-UK Partnership Could Enable The Use Of Clean Hydrogen- Report Says

A new report published under the initiative of ZEST associates and World Green Economy Organization (WGEO) and funded by HSBC bank has elaborated on the opportunity of two major economies UAE and the UK in developing policies, strategies, investment visions, and infrastructure development around the Clean Hydrogen project.

The report studies the possibility of developing and sustaining Clean Hydrogen fuel as an alternative to conventional oil fuels and how this can be a major game changer in the future of energy conservation and to development of a green economy. The research was headed by Ari Hawkins, Giuseppe Errante Parrino, and Waleed Shahid. 

UAE-UK Partnership Can Unlock Potential Of Clean Hydrogen, Says Report

Clean Hydrogen is seen as a major player in the decarbonization drive as it is a rapidly emerging sector with huge investment options and forecast growth.

The report is targeted at informing corporate executives, governments, innovators, researchers, and industry groups of both countries to focus on the areas of development and enter into a bilateral that could benefit both the nations and the world.

Hydrogen can be manufactured through various methods like hydrocarbons, electricity, etc as the primary input source. It is one of the most economically efficient sources of green energy that can convincingly bring down carbon emissions as clean hydrogen can be used for energy-intensive industries like steel, shipping, aviation, chemical processing, etc.

Hydrogen is considered one of the main energy sources of the future that would help counter the effects of global warming and create a positive turn in climate change. 

The Net Zero by 2050 initiative aims to reach zero emission standards by 2050. UAE and UK being active participants in this project make them ideal candidates for collaboration on the Clean hydrogen initiative front.

In order to reach zero emissions by 2050, both these economies can utilize Clean hydrogen energy as a major investment as UAE and UK aim at an intermediate result of 23.5 % and 68% respectively by 2030.

This represents a viable opportunity for UAE, which is predominantly a carbon fuel exporter and which occupies 30% of its GDP to diversify and grow its geostrategic energy position.

An agreement has been signed in 2021 by Adnoc, Mubadala, and ADQ to form a hydrogen energy alliance to develop low-carbon blue and green hydrogen in UAE. International academic collaboration could pave the way for developing innovative scientific approaches to hydrogen fuel standards.

The Khalifa University in UAE and the Universities of Bath and Manchester are some of the forerunners in this area of academic research on Hydrogen. 

Further, in the green energy development scenario, UAE is one of the prominent prospects of solar energy and wind energy potential. The emirate nations have a lot of untapped solar potential and space to build solar farms that could create a power of up to 20 gigawatts by 2030.

The solar energy cost is one of the lowest in the UAE with just 1.35 cents per kWh rate as of 2020. The UK on the other hand is aiming to increase its current wind energy output from 14 gigawatts to 50 GW by 2030.

The hydrogen fuel industry is also predicted to create around 100,000 employment opportunities in both countries. The study estimates that Hydrogen investments would add around $8.7 Billion to Dubai’s economy alone by 2050.

Fitch solutions remarked that on a global scale, hydrogen fuel investments are valued to rise to $183 billion by 2023 from $129 billion in 2017. This is supposed to cross $300 billion by 2030 as per the calculations of the French investment bank Natixis. 

Dubai launched its first hydrogen plant at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar park recently. This solar park is considered to be the largest solar park in the UAE.