ACWA Power, a Saudi investor and developer of power generation projects, PTT – Thailand’s national integrated energy company – and Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), an electric power related state-owned enterprise, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week with the main aim of green hydrogen production that will both sustain the Asian country’s efforts to decarbonize and enable valuable export opportunities.
Thailand is following in the footsteps of many Asian-Pacific countries like Kazakhstan, Singapore and Australia, in this huge multibillion-dollar gigawatt scale green hydrogen trend that will see large amounts of greenhouse gasses displaced from all over the two continents of Asia and Oceania.
The main details of the MoU reveal that the three companies will begin collaborating on a comprehensive plan to establish large-scale, renewable-powered green hydrogen and derivatives production facilities in Thailand for local energy consumption and global market export purposes. The production target is estimated to be around 225,000 tons per annum of green hydrogen, the equivalent of 1.2 million tons of green ammonia. The initial estimated investment amounts to $7 billion.
This is not the first green deal that ACWA has signed. A $2.4 billion wind farm is due to enter service in 2026 after terms have been agreed with the Uzbek Energy Minister for what will be Central Asia’s largest onshore wind farm with a capacity of 1.5GW.
Thailand has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero emission by 2065. In the present day, the Asian country satisfies its energy demand mostly by means of fossil fuels – 40% oil; 29% natural gas; 20% biofuels and waste; 10% coal – with renewables like hydro and solar accounting for a mere 1%.
The need for Thailand to start acting on those pledges is very clear and the country is beginning to make small steps towards just that. In October, Thailand’s Energy Regulatory Commission started promoting Power purchase agreements for up to 5.2GW across four types of renewable energy projects: 335 MW of biowaste; 1GW of solar with battery storage, 1.5GW of wind and 2.3GW of solar without battery storage. All the capacity is aimed to be installed by 2030.
Moreover, as reported by Rethink earlier this year, Singapore set in place a tender towards its neighboring states that would see 4GW of solar, wind, hydro and geothermal renewable energy come from the likes of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. So far only 100MW of renewable hydropower has been signed upon as part of the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project that will see this energy transferred through Malaysia and Thailand towards Singapore. More on that deal can be accessed here.
Additionally, Sungrow, a Chinese solar PV inverter and energy storage system manufacturer, has signed an MoU with the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand to cooperate on energy storage, green hydrogen , green bonds and blockchain technology.
Green hydrogen is seen as the “fuel of the future” by many nations and industry leaders, including the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. In a recent political rally, Modi addressed the Indian public by saying the following: “I want to make Gujarat the biggest hub of green hydrogen in the world. A new eco-system for that sector will come up on Gujarat’s coastline, be it in Kutch or Bhavnagar or in Junagadh. Green hydrogen is the fuel of the future. The entire world will experience a total transformation. ”
India is already making moves concerning the “fuel of the future”. A deal worth $2.8 billion has been signed earlier this year between Jakson Green and the Government of Rajasthan, for the production of 365,000 tons of green hydrogen and green ammonia per year, all powered by an integrated wind, solar and storage renewable energy complex. More details on this deal can be found here.