Solar Hydrogen: Pilot in Dubai, Gigawatt Bets in NEOM and Europe

A dated source

This article draws on a Gulf Daily News report from 5 September 2022, citing WAM. The figures below come from that report and may have changed since.

Global context

In Saudi Arabia, the NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, a joint venture of NEOM, ACWA Power and Air Products, is installing about 2.2 GW of electrolysers powered by around 4 GW of solar and wind. ACWA Power says the plant will produce up to 600 tonnes of hydrogen a day, as up to 1.2 million tonnes a year of green ammonia, with first product expected in 2027.

The EU’s REPowerEU plan set an aspirational goal of 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen production and 10 million tonnes of imports by 2030. The European Court of Auditors said in 2024 that the EU is unlikely to meet those targets.

Dubai’s plant is a demonstrator, not an export project; its value is as a test bed for applications rather than a source of volume.

The project

The report said DEWA implemented the green hydrogen project in cooperation with Expo 2020 Dubai and Siemens Energy at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. It described the project as the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa to produce hydrogen using solar energy.

The UAE's market ambition

According to the report, the UAE aims to capture 25 per cent of the low-carbon hydrogen market, which it said was expected to be worth more than $400 billion a year over five years.

Why solar costs matter

The report said green hydrogen is mainly produced through electrolysis using renewable energy. It noted that DEWA had received the lowest solar energy prices globally five consecutive times, and that DEWA had attracted around AED 40 billion ($11 billion) of investment through its independent power producer model.

What the source supports

DEWA's chief executive said at the time that the project supports DEWA's strategy of diversifying energy sources and investing in innovation and research in energy storage. The report does not describe commercial-scale hydrogen sales. The project is best understood as a testing platform for low-carbon applications.