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Firms prepare 100MW Ruwais hydrogen bids

1 November 2023

A consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Green Hydrogen expects to receive bids by mid-November for a contract to build a 100MW electrolyser facility in Ruwais in Abu Dhabi.

According to industry sources, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work will include commissioning, start-up and testing of the facility.

In addition to Masdar Green Hydrogen, the developer consortium for the scheme, called Project Crystal, includes France’s Engie and Abu Dhabi-based petrochemicals firm Fertiglobe. 

MEED has yet to confirm the supplier of the plant’s electrolyser equipment. 

MEED reported in May that France’s Technip Energies had completed the detailed design of a planned 150MW green hydrogen-based ammonia production facility in Ruwais.

MEED understands the consortium aims to make a final investment decision on the project by the fourth quarter of 2023.

The consortium also plans to purchase renewable energy from Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) to power the facility, unlike most of the planned green hydrogen projects in the region that include captive renewable energy plants.

The Ruwais facility is expected to reach commercial operation by early 2026.

It will support green ammonia production and will be installed near Fertiglobe’s ammonia production plants, with Fertiglobe as the sole long-term offtaker.

It is the first project arising from a strategic alliance between Engie and Masdar that was announced in December 2021.

The two companies are looking to develop projects with a capacity of at least 2GW by 2030, with a total investment in the region of $5bn, Engie said at the time.

In addition to this project, Engie also serves as a carbon adviser to Emirates Steel’s low-carbon steel project.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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