- November 18, 2021
- Posted by: Ahmed Abdelatif
- Category: 2021, EN
Madbouly’s statement came during a meeting to review the vision of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) concerning the localisation of the green hydrogen industry after receiving three offers from global alliances to set up projects for the production of green hydrogen in the regions of Ain Sokhna and east Port Said.
The meeting, which was headed by Madbouly, was attended by Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said, Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, Chairperson of the SCZone Yehia Zaki, and the Executive Manager of Egypt’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Ayman Soliman.
Global demand in the near term will increase on low-carbon fuels as countries gradually shift towards a green economy to reduce carbon emissions, Zaki said.
This is an opportunity for Egypt to move into a leading position in the region in the production, use, and export of green fuels, he added.
Green hydrogen — hydrogen made without fossil fuels — has long been described as the fuel of the future for being abundant, cheap, and clean-burning.
It has been identified as the clean energy source that could help bring the world to net-zero emissions.
During the meeting, Zaki stressed that Egypt has the essential capabilities for localising the production of green hydrogen and the expansion in its projects.
Egypt, he added, has the potential to produce renewable energy at competitive prices due to the country’s distinguished geographical location and close proximity to Europe, one of the key importers of clean energy products.
Furthermore, Egypt has the necessary infrastructure to export green hydrogen to European countries based on the natural gas export network, he stated
Another edge for Egypt has an additional edge, he continued, since about 15 percent of global shipping traffic passes through the Suez Canal, which creates an opportunity to raise the canal’s competitiveness by turning it into a global hub for supplying ships with green fuel.
In October, Shaker had stated that green hydrogen would be introduced in Egypt’s 2035 Energy Strategy.
In August, the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company and the German giant Siemens Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the development of the green hydrogen industry. This came months after the Ministry of Electricity signed in January an agreement with a German company to start studies for establishing a pilot project for producing green hydrogen in Egypt.
In July, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi urged the preparation of an integrated national strategy for the production of green hydrogen in light of the growing international interest in this promising source of energy for the near future.
The strategy is meant to empower Egypt to generate and use hydrogen using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.
In March, the ministry signed with the Belgian DEME Group a cooperation deal to conduct studies on the production of green hydrogen in the country.
Egypt has advanced from the 26th place in 2020 to the 20th among the world’s top 40 markets in the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) for 2021.
Published BY: ahram.org