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Thursday, 13 October 2022

Looks like South Korea’s Kepco wants to source some green hydrogen, courtesy of ACWA

ACWA Power, Kepco to collaborate on green hydrogen projects: Saudi renewable energy giant ACWA Power and South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) will partner up to develop green hydrogen projects to decarbonize Kepco’s South Korea operations, ACWA Power said in a press release earlier this week. The two parties signed an MoU earlier to explore a potential partnership that would span projects in the Middle East and other territories, with the aim of producing industrial-scale green hydrogen and ammonia for Kepco’s South Korea plants. The size of the transaction was not disclosed.

How much is Kepco looking to buy? The Korean utilities provider wants to source 5-10 mn tonnes of green ammonia produced from green hydrogen for power generation by 2030.

Another notch in ACWA’s green hydrogen export belt: In July, the Saudi company signed an MoU with South Korea’s Posco Holdings to jointly develop green hydrogen and its derivatives, including green ammonia, to decarbonize Posco Group’s power generation and steel manufacturing processes.

BACKGROUND- ACWA Power recently established a JV with Air Products and NEOM’s Green Hydrogen Company to produce 650 tonnes of green hydrogen daily and 1.2 mn tonnes of green ammonia at NEOM’s green hydrogen production plant, which is due to be completed in 2026. Back in May, ACWA and Air Products teamed up again, this time with Oman’s OQ, to work on a “multi-bn USD” green hydrogen project in Oman’s Salalah Freezone.

ALSO- EUROPE WANTS TO USE OUR GREEN HYDROGEN TO PRODUCE SYNTHETIC NATGAS

Belgium’s Tree Energy Solutions (TES) wants to replace Russian gas supplies to Europe by synthesizing a “cleaner” form of natural gas sourced from green hydrogen, the New York Times writes. The company plans to produce hydrogen from renewable sources in MENA — the story mentions Egypt, the UAE and Oman — mixing it with captured carbon to produce methane (natgas), liquefying it and then shipping it to Europe. The founders argue this is a simple plug-and-play solution as the methane could still be used in legacy natgas infrastructure to heat homes in Europe.

Moves are already happening (on the European side at least): The company is currently building energy supply and import hubs across Europe, the US and Canada. The German government already agreed to store TES’ liquified green hydrogen imports in its floating Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal, which is still under construction.

Some familiar names in the industry are investing in this: TES raised EUR 65 mn in July, and Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries is investing EUR 30 mn to become a shareholder in TES and an additional EUR 100 mn to partake in the construction of the Wilhelmshaven terminal.

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