Hydrogen Powers Abu Dhabi's Alternative Energy Initiative

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As Dubai's real estate development comes under a severe cost-escalation crunch, Abu Dhabi is envisioning a city of the future with the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC). Rakaa Properties (Riyadh) reports that about 40% of the $400 billion worth of current real estate projects on the table in Dubai have been temporarily suspended. The $160 billion pause could increase inflation and cause a slowdown in the breakneck pace of development in Dubai. Since the last quarter of 2007, cement prices have risen from $75 a ton to $88 a ton, and steel has risen from $654 a ton to $ 831 a ton.

In Abu Dhabi the Masdar initiative is dedicated to using alternative energy sources to produce a new economic model, and a living and working urban environment based on energy supplied from a hydrogen feed. World-renowned architect Norman Foster is designing a walled-city concept with shaded walkways, high-density urban working and living and no cars.

Plans have been announced for the construction of a peak power 100-MW solar energy plant. This $350 million project will be expanded at a later stage to produce 500 MW. The project, using concentrated solar power technology, will be tendered to international developers in August. The intention is to make solar energy a cornerstone of the Masdar development and to build a world-class photovoltaic component manufacturing plant, which will become a major exporter in the sector. Feasibility studies are also being carried on offshore wind power generation sites, and a wind atlas for the United Arab Emirates should be available before the end of the year.

In February 2007, AFDEC made an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. This will be developed as an energy cluster and become a showcase of sustainability and research and development.

Masdar and Hydrogen Energy, a joint venture between BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto, is working on the $45 million front-end engineering design for a $2 billion hydrogen energy plant that will generate 420 MW. Natural gas will be processed to create hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 will not be emitted into the atmosphere but captured, transported and injected into a producing oil field where it would replace the natural gas currently being injected into the field to maintain pressure.

About 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day will be transformed into hydrogen and CO2 by a natural gas reformer. The hydrogen will feed the turbines with water vapor being the main emission and 90% of CO2 will be captured. The 1.7 million tons of CO2 captured is the equivalent of decarbonizing the whole of Abu Dhabi's domestic transport sector.

Construction on the hydrogen power project is set to begin in 2009, and commercial operation is set for 2012. Dubai will observe with interest the Masdar move to alternative energy which should see a balance of priority emerging between the property and energy sectors, according to Habiba al-Marashi, chairperson of the nongovernmental Emirates Environmental Group.

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