据能源新闻3月7日消息称，烈日灼烤的广阔土地和持续的红海微风使沙特阿拉伯的西北角成为黄金地带，沙特王国希望它将成为全球绿色氢能源中心。
在各国政府和企业寻求污染更少的碳氢化合物替代品之际，作为全球最大的原油出口国，沙特不希望将蓬勃发展的氢业务拱手让给欧洲或澳大利亚，从而失去一个潜在的巨大收入来源。因此，该国正在建设一个耗资50亿美元、完全依靠太阳能和风能发电的工厂，该工厂将于2025年在规划中的超级城市Neom投入使用，届时它将成为世界上最大的绿色氢生产商之一。
将一片比利时大小的沙漠改造成可再生能源大都市的任务由德国最大的公用事业公司RWE AG的前首席执行官Peter Terium负责。他的表现将有助于决定一个依赖石油美元的国家能否转型为无污染燃料的供应国。
Terium说：“关于这个方面的挑战，我从未见过或听到过。在过去的两年里，我一直在思考‘从零开始’，现在我们已经进入了执行模式。”
氢气正从一种小范围的能源——用于齐柏林飞艇、火箭和核武器——转变为大产业，仅欧盟就承诺投入5000亿美元扩大其基础设施。天然气要成为能源转型的重要组成部分，仍然存在巨大的障碍，持怀疑态度的人指出，沙特阿拉伯目前在利用可再生能源行业的竞争优势方面表现不佳，尤其是太阳能，该行业计划很多，但运营项目很少。
但各国正在争夺未来全球市场的地位，氢专家将沙特列为一个值得关注的国家。
英国正在筹备10个用天然气为建筑物供暖的项目，日本计划将天然气用于钢铁生产。美国总统气候特使克里敦促国内石油和天然气行业拥抱氢的“巨大机遇”。
这意味着这家名为赫利奥斯绿色燃料公司的工厂将拥有大量潜在客户。沙特阿拉伯正把目光投向成为世界上最大的氢供应国——彭博社估计，到2050年，这个市场的价值可能高达7000亿美元。
咨询公司Strategy&驻迪拜合伙人Shihab Elborai表示:“你将看到能源出口的投资组合更加多样化，也更有弹性。针对能源转型的速度和时机方面的任何不确定性，它都是多元化的。”
蓝图正在制定中，战略也在宣布中，但对这个行业来说还处于早期阶段。在不排放温室气体的情况下，氢的制造成本很高，难以储存，而且极易燃烧。
绿色氢是通过使用可再生能源而不是化石燃料生产的。根据国际可再生 能源机构的数据，目前生产一公斤的成本不到5美元。
沙特阿拉伯拥有永久的阳光和风，以及广阔的未使用土地的竞争优势。据BNEF称，赫利奥斯的成本可能将是全球最低的，到2030年可能达到每公斤1.50美元。这比今天用不可再生资源制造的氢更便宜。
Terium表示，在欧洲生产可再生能源的成本更高，而欧洲大陆在实施绿色协议时的预期需求应该会超过其自身的供应。超过1万亿美元的刺激计划将试图使欧洲大陆达到碳中和。
朱佳妮 摘译自 能源新闻
原文如下：
Saudi Arabia’s bold plan to rule the $700 billion hydrogen market
Sun-scorched expanses and steady Red Sea breezes make the northwest tip of Saudi Arabia prime real estate for what the kingdom hopes will become a global hub for green hydrogen.
As governments and industries seek less-polluting alternatives to hydrocarbons, the world’s biggest crude exporter doesn’t want to cede the burgeoning hydrogen business to Europe or Australia and lose a potentially massive source of income. So it’s building a $5 billion plant powered entirely by sun and wind that will be among the world’s biggest green hydrogen makers when it opens in the planned megacity of Neom in 2025.
The task of turning a patch of desert the size of Belgium into a metropolis powered by renewable energy falls to Peter Terium, the former chief executive officer of RWE AG, Germany’s biggest utility. His performance will help determine whether a country dependent on petrodollars can transition into a supplier of non-polluting fuels.
“There’s nothing I’ve ever seen or heard of this dimension or challenge,” Terium said. “I’ve been spending the last two years wrapping my mind around ‘from scratch,’ and now we’re very much in execution mode.”
Hydrogen is morphing from a niche power source — used in zeppelins, rockets and nuclear weapons — into big business, with the European Union alone committing $500 billion to scale up its infrastructure. Huge obstacles remain to the gas becoming a major part of the energy transition, and skeptics point to Saudi Arabia’s weak track record so far capitalizing on what should be a competitive edge in the renewables business, especially solar, where there are many plans but few operational projects.
But countries are jostling for position in a future global market, and hydrogen experts list the kingdom as one to watch.
The U.K. is hosting 10 projects to heat buildings with the gas and Japan is planning to use the gas in steelmaking. U.S. presidential climate envoy John Kerry urged the domestic oil and gas industry to embrace hydrogen’s “huge opportunities.”
That should mean plenty of potential customers for the plant called Helios Green Fuels. Saudi Arabia is setting its sights on becoming the world’s largest supplier of hydrogen — a market that BloombergNEF estimates could be worth as much as $700 billion by 2050.
“You’re seeing a more diversified portfolio of energy exports that is more resilient,” said Shihab Elborai, a Dubai-based partner at consultant Strategy&. “It’s diversified against any uncertainties in the rate and timing of the energy transition.”
Blueprints are being drawn and strategies are being announced, but it’s still early days for the industry. Hydrogen is expensive to make without expelling greenhouse gases, difficult to store and highly combustible.
Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. The current cost of producing a kilogram is a little under $5, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Saudi Arabia possesses a competitive advantage in its perpetual sunshine and wind, and vast tracts of unused land. Helios’s costs likely will be among the lowest globally and could reach $1.50 per kilogram by 2030, according to BNEF. That’s cheaper than some hydrogen made from non-renewable sources today.
It’s more expensive to produce renewable energy in Europe, and the continent’s anticipated demand while implementing a Green Deal should exceed its own supply, Terium said. That $1 trillion-plus stimulus package will try to make the continent carbon-neutral.
