Masdar and Austrian utility Verbund have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore renewable hydrogen generation for the Central European market, said the company.
The MoU was signed in Abu Dhabi and the two companies will cooperate on developing pathways to produce and export renewable hydrogen to Central Europe, specifically Austria and southern Germany.
Masdar announced in 2022 that the company established a renewable hydrogen business with the goal of producing 1 million tonnes/year by 2030.
The company is also involved in several renewable hydrogen projects globally, including a 2GW integrated offshore wind and renewable hydrogen project in Azerbaijan and the 2GW renewable hydrogen project in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.
According to Verbund, over 95% of the electricity generated by the company comes from hydro-electricity power plants, which are supplemented by both wind turbines and solar farms.
According to Austria's Hydrogen Strategy, the country is seeking to have 1GW of electrolyser capacity installed by 2030, and are following renewable hydrogen only with both low carbon hydrogen and hydrogen produced from nuclear are "not sustainable" and "do not constitute as climate-neutral hydrogen."
We remind, Borealis has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Austrian power firm VERBUND for hydropower supply from sites on the Danube. The 10-year PPA will start in January 2023 and will supply 220GWh/year of electricity from renewable sources from VERBUND sites in Aschach and Abwinden-Asten on the Danube to power Borealis’ production in Schwechat, Austria.
mrchub.com