OC joins Ain Sokhna green hydrogen project
OC joins in on our first-ever green hydrogen facility: Orascom Construction is joining a developer consortium of Norway’s Scatec, Nassif Sawiris-backed Fertiglobe, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt to build the 100 MW green hydrogen plant in Ain Sokhna, the company said in a statement (pdf). The construction giant will be responsible for the local works on the facility, which is expected to be showcased during the COP27 summit next November. This will be the first green hydrogen plant in Egypt and is scheduled to come online by 2024.
What the work entails: The facility will be “mainly comprised” of a 100 MW electrolyzer that Orascom says will make it the world’s largest independently-owned facility of its kind. It will be built, operated and majority-owned by Scatec, and will be fed by Fertiglobe’s ammonia production facility in Ain Sokhna. Nasdaq-listed US firm Plug Power has been selected to provide the tech to the facility.
What is this green hydrogen business, exactly? Taking its cue from rising global interest in green hydrogen, Egypt is working on a strategy of its own to channel bns of USD of investment to create a local industry. In addition to the Scatec facility, Eni, General Electric and ThyssenKrupp have reportedly submitted bids worth a collective USD 2 bn to establish hydrogen plants that would produce both green and blue forms of hydrogen. Head to our explainer here for everything you need to know about green hydrogen and what Egypt plans to do with it.