New roadmap: National Hydrogen Strategy to be unveiled before year-end
A National Hydrogen Strategy for the Sultanate of Oman, due to be unveiled before the end of this year, envisions the country’s hydrogen production potential to reach a world-scale 30 Gigawatts (GW) of electrolyser capacity by 2040.
Hydrogen — particularly the zero-carbon green hydrogen variant — is at the heart of the Omani government’s ambitions to transition the economy away from its longstanding dependence on fossil fuels, which is associated with climate change, to one powered predominantly by clean energy.
Already, a mix of small and large-scale hydrogen-based ventures are being prepped for development in the Sultanate of Oman with the goal to drive the country’s decarbonisation journey, as well as support the energy transition objectives of a number of partner countries.
A brief insight into the Sultanate of Oman’s vision for the growth of a hydrogen-based clean energy economy was shared by a high-level official associated with the National Hydrogen Strategy.
“The potential for clean hydrogen — including the blue and green versions — is around 1 gigawatt by 2025, 10 GW by 2030 and around 30 GW by 2040; this is how we see the growth of hydrogen in Oman,” said Dr Abdullah al Abri , Head of Energy Renewal (part of Petroleum Development Oman — PDO). “This growth will be explained and reflected in the Hydrogen Strategy that will be published towards the end of this year.”
Speaking at a webinar hosted recently by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in the Sultanate of Oman, Dr Al Abri said the National Hydrogen Strategy stems from an initiative launched two years ago to “scope out the feasibility for hydrogen to be a new vector in driving economic development”.
The goal, he said, is to achieve a hydrogen-centric economy for the Sultanate of Oman by 2040.
Hydrogen, said the official, is the ideal choice among all the renewable energy options to drive the country’s energy transition. As a zero-carbon fuel, it can help the Sultanate of Oman achieve its aspirations to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Furthermore, there is a big potential market for hydrogen globally as countries around the world switch to cleaner fuels to address their climate mitigation pledges.
Boding well for the Sultanate of Oman’s hydrogen ambitions are a number of factors, said Dr Al Abri.
“International interest is increasing in partnerships and business opportunities in this space. Also, there is a combination of local and international competitive technologies and infrastructure that we have in the Sultanate of Oman, which enables competitive power generation based on hydrogen. Further, as a country, we are anticipating shortfalls in our gas supply (which necessitates an early transition to alternatives).”
All of these factors are driving a strong push for hydrogen, said the official.”
We see hydrogen playing a big part as feedstock for industries in the Sultanate of Oman; we see it as a fuel for heat, power and transport applications. We see it as a business commodity in the production of new or enhanced chemicals, like synthetic fuels. And, of course, there is the potential for Oman to export hydrogen as well,” he added.
