Oman ranked 25th on Hydrogen Investability Index

@conradprabhu -

Underscoring its ambitions to evolve into a major regional player in green hydrogen production, the Sultanate of Oman has been ranked 25th on a newly unveiled global index of countries that are rated on the basis of their appeal as a destination for investment in low emission hydrogen projects.

The Hydrogen Investability Index (H2i) is billed as the first international country ranking of its kind in the hydrogen space, with the top 40 countries listed according to their attractiveness to hydrogen-related investments.

H2i was recently launched jointly by Cranmore Partners, a financial advisory services firm focusing on the infrastructure and energy sectors, with Energy Estate, whose ‘HydrogenGrowth’ platform seeks to accelerate the transformation of the energy sector and decarbonisation of industry.

Germany took the top place in the ranking, followed by Spain and the United States. Besides the Sultanate of Oman, the only other Middle Eastern countries featured on the index are Saudi Arabia (17th), the UAE (20th) and Qatar (38th).

Muscat’s inclusion in the list is a testament to the country’s aspirations to transition away from hydrocarbons as the mainstay of its economy to the large-scale production of green hydrogen, partly to decarbonise the local economy but predominantly to meet future international demand for this clean fuel.

Over the course of the past year, at least two world-scale green hydrogen and related green ammonia projects have been firmed up for implementation in the vast desert expanses of Duqm in Al Wusta Governorates. These schemes will harness the region’s copious sunlight and wind resources to produce green electricity that will be utilised to produce hydrogen through electrolysis of water. Until bulk marine transportation of hydrogen becomes viable and cost-effective, much of the green hydrogen output is proposed to be converted into stable ammonia, which can be either used as fertiliser, or converted back into hydrogen.

Commensurate with these plans, the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) has earmarked a sprawling 150 sq kilometres of land within the Duqm SEZ as a ‘Green Energy Cluster’ exclusively for the implementation of renewable and green energy schemes.

Among the first projects set to take off from this site is HYPORT Duqm, a joint initiative of OQ Alternative Energy (part of OQ, the Sultanate’s integrated energy group) and DEME Concessions of Belgium. In the first phase, the HYPORT Duqm project will develop a 250 to 500 MW green hydrogen facility, which is planned to come into operation in 2026.

Elsewhere within the Green Energy Cluster, Indian renewable energy developer ACME Group is preparing to commence work on a 300 MT/day green ammonia plant with an estimated investment of $2.5 billion.

OQ is also spearheading the development of a mega-scale Oman Green Energy Hub in the Duqm SEZ in partnership with the privately owned InterContinental Energy and EnerTech, a Kuwaiti state-backed clean energy investor and developer. The electricity generation capacity of the Oman hub is estimated at 25 gigawatts (GW) comprising a mix of solar and wind based farms. The Hub will produce 1.8 millions of tons per annum of green hydrogen and up to 10 million tons per annum of green ammonia.

More recently, OQ announced the launch of an international consortium comprised also of Marubeni Corporation, Linde and Dutco for the development of a green hydrogen and green ammonia project at Salalah Free Zone in the south of the country. The project, named ‘SalalaH2’, targets the production of up to 1000 tons per day of green ammonia, utilizing OQ’s existing ammonia plant in Salalah. An electrolysis facility with a capacity of up to 400 MW will be constructed to produce green hydrogen. Approximately 1 GW of solar and wind energy, produced either by existing or new facilities, will be used to power the electrolyzer.