His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding today between Saudi Arabia and Germany on the production and utilization of hydrogen. The MOU was cosigned by H.E. Peter Altmaier, the Federal Republic of Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy.
This MoU comes in the context of cooperation between the two countries in the field of hydrogen, within the ongoing Saudi German energy dialogue. It serves to strengthen the development sustainability and prosperity, create job opportunities in the two countries, protect the environment, and achieve the Paris Agreement goals, especially those related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
In a comment on the topic of this MoU, His Royal Highness explains that the objectives of this MoU support the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030, which aim at achieving sustainable development, preserving the environment, promoting innovation, strengthening exchange of knowledge, and creating more quality job opportunities for the Saudi male and female youth.
The potential of hydrogen has always been there, His Royal Highness adds, but now it is entering the mainstream of strategic energy thinking. Hydrogen is considered one of the most important future fuels that contributes to the efforts taken to tackle climate change issues.
In this regard, His Royal Highness points out that as it is committed to leading the response in managing emissions, while continuing its socio-economic development, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took the initiative to adopt the Circular Carbon Economy, which was endorsed by global leaders, including Germany, at the G20 Summit under Saudi presidency last year.
The Kingdom, His Royal Highness affirms, has all the ingredients to be a world leader in the field of hydrogen production and utilization. In fact, the Kingdom has already taken giant steps, with the project to build the world’s first “green hydrogen” facility at NEOM, and the first shipment of “blue hydrogen” to Japan last summer.
His Royal Highness states that the fact that Germany has chosen Saudi Arabia as its preferred partner in this strategic co-operation is a symbol of trust in its potential. Germany’s world-renowned excellence in technology and its reputation as a global economic power are also two factors strengthening the Kingdom’s partnership with it.
The MoU, which was virtually signed, provides for strengthening the Saudi-German cooperation in the field of clean hydrogen fuel generation, processing, use, transportation, and joint marketing. This is to be achieved through the participation of all relevant research entities and institutions of the public and private sectors to carry out the required activities. Such activities include strengthening the exchange of information and technological expertise between the two parties; promoting joint investment and research; supporting the sale of the Saudi hydrogen fuel and the products made from it, such as industrial kerosene, which is used to generate electricity in Germany; executing projects related to the generation, processing, use, and transportation of low-carbon hydrogen fuel, including the project in NEOM; establishing innovation parks that will include research centers and leading industrial companies from the two countries; founding a bilateral innovation fund aiming to promote new clean hydrogen technologies; using the German technology in carrying out and localizing start-ups focusing on new technology in the Kingdom; and intensifying the dialogue between the two parties on the regulatory policies and funding frameworks necessary to develop the clean hydrogen sector.
