We have more details on Hydrom’s new hydrogen infrastructure company

Here’s what we know about Hydrom’s new company:The new shared hydrogen infrastructure company under establishment by Hydrogen Oman (Hydrom), OQ Gas Networks, Nama Water Services, and the Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) — provisionally named InfraCo — will work on projects across the Al Wusta and Dhofar governorates, the Oman Daily Observer reported last week. Last week, Hydrom said it plans to take an equity share in any planned green hydrogen projects in exchange for the supply of water, electricity and a pipeline network.

Who’s doing what: The planned common infrastructure sites will include developing electricity interconnectors to hydrogen production plants, establishing desalinated water supply systems to hydrogen production sites, and building hydrogen transportation networks from plants to ports and freezones. OQ Gas Networks was tapped by the government to manage the hydrogen pipelines, while Nama Water Services will oversee water networks, and OETC will be responsible for the electric connectivity side of the project. The Omani government has not yet picked Infraco’s partner for the desalination component of the project.

Coming online by 2029: Hydrom has set a target to commission the project before the “first production of hydrogen” locally by 2029, the news outlet quotes the company’s Managing Director Abdulaziz al Shidhani as saying.

REMEMBER- Hydrom is moving fast to make Oman a hydrogen hub: Last month, Hydrom said it’s looking to raise USD 20-30 bn in investments from its second round of auctions for green hydrogen projects in the Dhofar region. Hydrom recently signed an MoU with Asyad Group aimed at strengthening Oman’s logistics sector in order to support the green hydrogen projects coming down the pipeline, and signed another agreement with Siemens Energy and the Oman Investment Authority (OIA) to explore the feasibility of establishing an electrolyzer manufacturing facility in the Sultanate. The Omani company is expecting to receive bids for the second round of the country’s land auction for integrated green hydrogen projects in late January and will award the contracts by 2H 2024.

ALSO- Hydrom wants in on China too: The company is aiming to tap the Chinese market for its hydrogen exports, the company’s Managing Director Abdulaziz Al Shidhani told Asharq Business on Friday. This follows Hydrom’s recently signed agreements with markets in South Korea, Japan, and Western Europe.

Green hydrogen production is booming: Hydrom recently inked six green hydrogen agreements — three of which were signed during COP — which will reach a total annual production of 925k tons of the green fuel, bringing it close to reaching Oman’s goal of 1 mn tons by 2030, Al Shethani said. Implementation of the SalalaH2 project is expected to start in 2Q 2024, CEO of OQ Alternative Energy Najla bint Zuhair Al Jamali told Attaqa.