Anything for our first green hydrogen plant
Cabinet assigned land plots for the solar and wind plants that will power the country’s first green hydrogen plant in its weekly meeting on Wednesday, according to a statement. The alliance behind the 100-MW green hydrogen plant being built in Ain Sokhna — Norway’s Scatec, Nassef Sawiris-backed ammonia producer Fertiglobe and Orascom Construction — will receive land for a 70 MW solar plant in Benban and a 205 MW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez. The alliance will contract the plots from the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) under the usufruct system, according to the statement.
The race to COP27: The government is hoping to get at least part of the green hydrogen facility up and running in time to showcase it at the COP27 summit in November and has promised the consortium extra electricity from the grid, derived from renewable sources, to make it happen.
Many others are jostling to get in on Egypt’s nascent green hydro industry: Dozens of firms have since pledged USD bns of investment for green hydrogen and green fuel projects here. The latest round of MoUs came last week when seven regional and European firms signed up to explore building facilities with a combined annual capacity of 5.5 mn.
ALSO FROM THE CABINET MEETING-
- Investment for dummies: Cabinet asked all ministries to brush up on state guidance on how to contract with foreign investors, and will ask the National Training Academy to teach civil servants how to “handle the contractual process professionally.”
- Siemens got the nod for a contract to improve energy efficiency in North Cairo, Alexandria, and the Delta as part of a project funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
- More presidential pardons on the way? A number of unnamed prisoners could get an early release to mark Armed Forces Day on 6 October.