A group of around 30 Dutch companies attended the kick-off of the Partners for International Business (PIB) programme on hydrogen. This ambitious three-year programme, initiated by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, focuses on Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Holland Hydrogen Hub is taking charge of coordination. The first meeting took place at H2Fuel’s Voorschoten office.

Over the next few years, the participants will actually launch green hydrogen production through various projects. The primary goal is to produce green hydrogen for both local use and export to the Netherlands within three years. At the recently held kick-off meeting, the participants had a chance to get to know each other well, which lays the foundation for successful collaborations.

Hub for Green Hydrogen

The Gulf region is seen as an ideal hub for green hydrogen production. Both the availability of uncultivated land, favourable conditions for solar and wind energy, central location close to emerging markets, support from local governments for the energy transition, sufficient capital and space for industrial development make this area interesting for hydrogen.

Opportunities for Dutch companies

Hydrogen is high on the agenda of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman. These countries are investing heavily in large-scale solar parks for green hydrogen production. Collaborations for production and export are already underway with Japan, South Korea, India and Germany. Dutch companies see opportunities in this, with, for instance, the construction of the world’s largest green ammonia production facility in Saudi Arabia and investments in local production, storage and export of hydrogen in Abu Dhabi and Oman.

H2Fuel’s role in the Project

H2Fuel is confident in the strength of this network and is committed to making this initiative a success. Koos-Jan Brouwershaven, CEO of H2Fuel, stresses, “We hold the key to a global hydrogen economy with our hydrogen carrier and aim to bring this to the widest possible attention, especially in the Middle East. This platform for Dutch companies in the region is extremely effective for us. For this reason we support this initiative where we can. Hosting the kick-off meeting in our Voorschoten office was a no-brainer for us.”