UAE's Masdar eyes green hydrogen exports to Central Europe

UAE’s clean energy company Masdar has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Austrian utility Verbund to explore the production of green hydrogen for the central European market, especially Australia and Germany, it said on February 8.

The MoU was signed at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023 by Michael Strugl, CEO of Verbund, and Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, executive director, green hydrogen, Masdar.

"We are committed to developing our green hydrogen business as we see it playing a significant role in the global energy transition," El Ramahi said.

Last year, Masdar announced the establishment of its new green hydrogen business, with a goal of producing 1mn metric ton/year of green hydrogen by 2030.

"Green hydrogen is the game-changer for a sustainable energy system, taking us a step closer to carbon neutrality. As a leading renewable energy company, Verbund is working on the development and expansion of local hydrogen production as well as long-term import solutions,” said Strugl.

Verbund generates close to 100% of its electricity from renewable energy, primarily hydropower, complemented by wind and solar, and is also active in energy transmission and international trading. It believes green hydrogen will become a crucial building block to decarbonise industry and transport in Europe and has already launched several projects to expand its value chain into green hydrogen.

Green hydrogen is typically hydrogen produced from water electrolysis powered by renewable electricity.