Masdar accelerates green hydrogen ambitions after joining forces with UAE energy champions
Masdar is seeking to become one of the world’s leading players in the growing green hydrogen econpmy, one of the company’s executive directors told Energy Intelligence. As one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, Masdar has set its sights on becoming a hub for the production and export of green hydrogen, Mohammed Abdelqader El-Ramahi, Masdar’s Executive Director for Hydrogen, said in an interview.
“We want to become one of the top five players globally,“ El-Ramahi said according to the report, “and we want to be one of the key players in the green hydrogen spectrum as the fuel of the future,”
Late last year, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and TAQA, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, completed the transaction that saw them take stakes in Masdar alongside the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala. The new partnership means Masdar has set ambitious targets of reaching 100 gigawatts of mostly solar and wind capacity by 2030, up from 20 GW currently. The company has also established a green hydrogen unit, headed by El-Ramahi, which is targeting production of 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen and derivatives by 2030.
By capitalizing on shareholder ADNOC’s infrastructure and key role in the petrochemical, oil and gas industries, Masdar will make Abu Dhabi a key international hub for the production and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives, El-Ramahi said. “We are leveraging their knowledge,“ he told Energy Intelligence, “not to mention also their network trading routes in the spectrum of green hydrogen.”
Of the 1 million tonnes capacity, half will be produced in Abu Dhabi, with local demand projected at around 200,000 tonnes per year, and the remaining volumes exported, according to the report, with the rest produced internationally.
El-Ramahi said Masdar is focusing on “key geographies,” including Saudi Arabia and Oman. Both countries have significant solar and wind potential. Egypt and Morocco are also attractive locations, given their access to infrastructure and status as export hubs.
“We will be leveraging our potentials within Mubadala, TAQA and ADNOC on all prospects — financial through relationships with banks and international financial institutions, in addition to both technical and commercial networks, knowledge, know-how, to accelerate this footpath into meeting our projected targets,” El-Ramahi said.
He predicted that, as technology evolves and regulatory frameworks are established, the green hydrogen market will grow. Masdar also sees green hydrogen becoming cost competitive beyond 2027 and toward 2030.
