Oman’s green hydrogen sector set to boost local industrialisation: IRENA

MUSCAT: The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in a new report has highlighted the potential of Oman’s massive green hydrogen sector to boost the growth of related industries.

The report, titled “Shaping Sustainable International Hydrogen Value Chains”, sheds light, among other things, on the potential socio-economic benefits for countries opting for an energy transition based on green hydrogen.

Citing Oman’s Green Hydrogen Strategy, outlined by Hydrom – the sector’s convener and master planner – IRENA said: “In its latest strategy, Oman envisages green hydrogen as a catalyst for significant local industrialisation, as well as significant local production of various raw materials and components. In addition, the transformation will stimulate new industries, including local production of solar panels, wind turbines and electrolysers, supporting the production of green steel and e-fuels.”

Importantly, this industrial expansion will not only spur green hydrogen development, but also boost related industries – from mining to green steel production – which the Abu Dhabi-based organisation says will lead to “positive feedback loops”.

“For example, the growth of the mining sector, fuelled by renewable energy, is seen as supporting the renewable energy value chain. In agriculture, excess electricity and water run-off from green hydrogen production is seen as boosting production, enabling increased crop and cattle production. These developments are intended to strengthen Oman’s business ecosystem, driving economic diversification and sustainable development,” it added.

The updated Oman Green Hydrogen Strategy, published in May this year, reaffirms the commitment to In Country Value (ICV) and domestic industrial development as key national goals. In particular, it highlights the potential to stimulate the location of key industries and future connected industries in existing and new industrial zones.

For example, over the next 25 years to 2050, Oman is expected to see a massive amount of hydrogen assets installed – an estimated 300 million solar panels, more than 10,000 wind turbines and 5,200 electrolysers.

This huge requirement opens up short-term localization opportunities, for example, for the production of wind turbine components (tower segments and blades), the production of iron ore pellets and hot-melt briquettes, the assembly of photovoltaics, the assembly of electrolyzers and logistics solutions, services and infrastructure. To this list are added in the medium term opportunities, among others, for the production of e-fuels, the production of electrolyzers and the production of green steel.

In addition, onshoring these production capacities will require access to vast quantities of raw materials. “The deployment of wind turbines, solar panels and electrolysers will require a corresponding increase in local production of steel, concrete, plastics, glass, aluminium, copper, silicon and nickel,” IRENA explained in its report.

According to Hydrom, the primary raw materials required to develop hydrogen resources in Oman by 2050 are estimated at 44 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) of concrete, 25 Mtpa of steel, 950 kilotonnes per year (ktpa) of plastics, 5.1 Mtpa of glass, 850 ktpa of aluminium, 500 ktpa of copper, 450 ktpa of silicon and 45 ktpa of nickel.