The company, which is entirely owned by Energy Development Oman (EDO) and is governed by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, aims to accelerate efforts to develop Oman’s green hydrogen industry and economy and reduce carbon emissions in order to achieve net-zero carbon neutrality goals, according to Dr. Firas bin Ali Al Abdwani, acting CEO of Hydrogen Oman (Hydrome).
More than 180 companies and institutions registered their interest with “Hydrome,” he continued, and among them, more than 50 received the qualification requirements for the first stage of the bidding process. A number of these companies have since passed the stage of fulfilling the requirements and begin the bidding process. He emphasized that these numbers are encouraging and in line with the initial expectations.
The acting CEO of “Hydrome” explained that the company has been gathering studies from various government agencies and businesses involved in the energy sector, teams and expertise houses that were formed to study the feasibility and possibility of the green hydrogen field, to conduct a unified study on the structure of this field from several aspects such as enablers, challenges, and investment opportunities, ever since it was founded.
He noted that there is currently 50,000 square kilometers of land in the Sultanate of Oman that is suitable for green hydrogen and renewable energy projects, as well as other areas in some other governorates. He added that two land plots were offered as part of the first batch in November last year, with the understanding that the agreements for the use and development of the projects will be signed by the first quarter of this year.
Al-Abdouni emphasized that the investment value of each land plot is projected to be between 4 and 5 billion US dollars and that the extent of each plot of land designated for green hydrogen projects is approximately 320 square kilometers. These plots of land are put up for sale by “Hydrome.”
The plant, which produces about one million tons of ammonia annually, is equivalent to about 80,000 tons of green hydrogen annually, meaning that its production requires about 1.8 GW of electrolyzer capacity and 3.5 GW of clean energy, the speaker noted. This was done in an effort to achieve global competitiveness in terms of economy, development capacity, and local added value.
According to him, Hydrom intends to run at least six green hydrogen projects in the Al Wusta and Dhofar governorates by 2030. These projects are expected to produce at least one million tons of green hydrogen annually, which is equal to about 10 GW of electrolyzer capacity and 20 GW of clean energy, with an estimated investment of about 30 billion US dollars.
It is interesting to note that the global forecast for hydrogen production is moving toward producing about 400 million tons of hydrogen annually by 2050, including 200 million tons of green hydrogen, with expectations of establishing more than 900 projects, where the announced projects currently constitute 1% and more than 25 countries around the world have announced their ambitions and plans to establish projects in this field.
