1st Edition
The Clean Hydrogen Economy and Saudi Arabia Domestic Developments and International Opportunities
This book provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of the emerging global hydrogen economy from the vantage point of one of the world’s biggest energy providers: Saudi Arabia. In 2021, and within the context of the Circular Carbon Economy framework, Saudi Arabia announced its goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060 and produce a substantial amount of clean hydrogen annually by 2030. The Kingdom is optimally situated geographically between the major demand markets in Europe and North Asia, from where it can leverage clean hydrogen exports as a potential tool to become a player of strategic importance and successfully diversify its economy under its Vision 2030 program. More broadly, the book charts a course for fossil fuel-exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia to carve a competitive position for themselves over the forthcoming decades using clean hydrogen as a catalyst for the energy transition.
With contributions from global energy experts, the chapters in this book provide a multifaceted analysis of the "who," "what," "where," and "why" related to clean hydrogen development within and beyond Saudi Arabia. Collectively, the contributions analyze the countries and regions relevant to Saudi Arabia in terms of dedicated hydrogen policies, projects, and approaches that aim to incentivize production and demand in an increasingly carbon-constrained world. The book is a timely, unique and an indispensable resource for practitioners and students of energy, geopolitics, and climate policy working on hydrogen in academia, applied research, national government bodies, and international organizations.
Chapter 1: The Clean Hydrogen Economy and Saudi Arabia: Introduction – by Jan Frederik Braun, Rami Shabaneh, Saumitra Saxena, and Jitendra Roychoudhury
PART 1: THE CLEAN HYDROGEN ECONOMY AND SAUDI ARABIA: DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Chapter 2: Saudi Arabia’s Clean Hydrogen Journey: Past, Present and Future – by Rami Shabaneh and Jan Frederik Braun
Chapter 3: Saudi Aramco's Clean Hydrogen Efforts: Between Economic Diversification and Effective Climate Action– by Jim Krane and Jan Frederik Braun
Chapter 4: SABIC’s Pathway to Carbon Neutrality and the Role of Hydrogen– by Abdulaziz Al Jodai, Pieter Smeets, Fahad Al Shehery, and Hicham Idriss
Chapter 5: Green Hydrogen in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM – by Frank Wouters
Chapter 6: Global Landscape of Research, Development, Demonstration and Innovation in Hydrogen Technology: Learnings for Saudi Arabia – by Saumitra Saxena, Bassam Dally, Kevin E. Cullen, and William L. Roberts
PART 2: THE CLEAN HYDROGEN ECONOMY AND SAUDI ARABIA: INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
Chapter 7: Hydrogen Investment: Carving Out a Competitive Position for the MENA Region in the Energy Transition – by Wa' el Almazeedi
Chapter 8: Europe’s Hydrogen Pathways: Toward a Balanced Partnership with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf – by Jan Frederik Braun, Ad van Wijk, and Kirsten Westphal
Chapter 9: Hydrogen in China: Crucial Opportunities for Transitioning to a Low-Carbon Economy – by Tianduo Peng, Xun Xu, Lining Wang, Jiaquan Dai
Chapter 10: The Evolving Hydrogen Economy in the United States – by Naomi L. Boness and Gireesh Shrimali
Chapter 11: The Role of Hydrogen in Australia’s Decarbonization and Export Strategy– by Bart Kolodziejczyk
Chapter 12: Using Hydrogen for Decarbonization, Industrial Development, and Energy Security – Shared Ambitions for Japan, ASEAN Member States, and India – by Yoshiaki Shibata, Victor Nian, Amit Bhandari, and Jitendra Roychoudhury
Chapter 13: Role of Hydrogen in Meeting South Korea’s Economic, Environmental, and Strategic Targets – by Jinsok Sung and Zlata Sergeeva
Chapter 14: The Role of Hydrogen in the Russian Energy Sector: Between the Diversification of Export Revenues and Low-Carbon Development – by Yury Melnikov
PART 3: THE CLEAN HYDROGEN ECONOMY AND SAUDI ARABIA: HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIES
Chapter 15: Scientific Understanding of Climate Change and Air Pollution, and Their Interrelationships with the Prospective Hydrogen Economy in Saudi Arabia– by Saumitra Saxena, and William Roberts
Chapter 16: Hydrogen Value Chain: Critical platform of the Energy Transition Ecosystem – by Alexander John Cruz
Chapter 17: Saudia Arabia and the Hydrogen Economy: Blue and Green Hydrogen Value Chain– by Michelle Schoonover, Mustafa Alkhabbaz, Mark D’Agostini
Chapter 18: Mission Decarbonization: Large-Scale Commercial Solutions for Water Electrolysis – by Erika Niino-Esser, Malcolm Cook, and Ralph Kleinschmidt
Chapter 19: Role of Carbon Capture in Enabling a Blue Hydrogen Economy – by Deoras Prabhudharwadkar, William Roberts, Robert Dibble, Larry Baxter
Chapter 20: Geological Hydrogen Storage – by Hussein Hoteit and Abdulkader Afifi
Chapter 21: Green Hydrogen and E-Fuels: A Saudi Arabian Perspective – by Shashank S. Nagaraja and S. Mani Sarathy
Chapter 22: The Potential Role of Hydrogen in Decarbonizing Heavy Industry in Saudi Arabia – by Bassam Dally
Chapter 23: The Potential of Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines for Heavy-Duty Applications – by James W. Turner, Sebastian Verhelst, Manuel E. Marquez
Chapter 24: KACST’s R&D Activities Toward a Clean Hydrogen Economy – by Naif B. Alqahtani, Abdullah AlAbduly, Abdullah Alkhedhair, Nezar H. Khdary, Afrah M. Aldawsari, Mahdi Alqahtani, Nawal Al Abass, Ahmad Alharbi, and Bandar AlOtaibi
Chapter 25: Hydrogen Production Using Nuclear Energy – by Abdulrahim Al Judaibi, Sharaf AlSharif, and Saleh Al Harbi
Chapter 26: Production, Cracking, and Use of Green Ammonia to Support the Hydrogen Economy – by Omar Behar, Saumitra Saxena, Deoras Prabhudharwadkar, Bassam Dally, and William Roberts
Chapter 27: Desalination: Water Supply for Saudi Arabia’s Green Hydrogen Production – by Friedrich Alt and Christopher M. Fellows
Chapter 28: The Clean Hydrogen Economy and Saudi Arabia: Findings and Final Thoughts – by Saumitra Saxena, Jan Fredrik Braun, Rami Shabaneh, and Jitendra Roychoudhury
Biography
Rami Shabaneh is a Fellow at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), focusing on global gas markets and hydrogen. Before joining KAPSARC, Rami worked at Cenovus Energy as a market fundamentals analyst, providing analytical support on North American energy markets. He holds a B.Sc. in Actuarial Science and an M.Sc. in Sustainable Energy Development from the University of Calgary.
Jitendra Roychoudhury is a Research Fellow at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His ongoing research portfolio in KAPSARC covers various economic, energy, and policy developments and the impact of policies on global commodity markets. Jitendra has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pune, India.
Jan Frederik Braun is the Head of Hydrogen Cooperation for the MENA region at the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Integrated Energy Systems (CINES). Jan's research focuses on clean hydrogen policies, economics, and energy transition strategies. He holds an M.A. in International Relations from Durham University and a Ph.D. in Political Science (magna cum laude) from Osnabrück University.
Saumitra Saxena is a Research Scientist at the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. Saxena holds over 20 years of experience in academia and industry. He holds an M. Tech. in Energy Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2007).
“Saudi Arabia is leading the implementation of green hydrogen worldwide, a remarkable feat. This book provides valuable strategic insights into domestic hydrogen governance and its key stakeholders. It analyses the role of Saudi Arabia in future global hydrogen markets. It also shows how targeted research and development can serve the large-scale penetration of clean hydrogen in the Kingdom. These three key aspects provide an essential context for anyone who wants to better understand the nascent global clean hydrogen economy”.
-Dolf Gielen, Senior Energy Economist and Hydrogen Lead, The World Bank-
“Should the global market for clean hydrogen develop, the Saudi ‘energy Kingdom’ is well positioned to gain a first-mover advantage. But many questions remain unanswered as our knowledge of the market, economics, and technicalities of hydrogen, to name but a few is still at an infant stage. The value of this book resides in answering these questions; it is the first comprehensive and detailed repository addressing the subject from its main facets; within Saudi Arabia and internationally”.
-Dr Carole Nakhle, Chief Executive Officer, Crystol Energy-
