The global green hydrogen industry continues to decline in popularity, and the leading new energy companies in the United Arab Emirates have decisively adjusted their layout. Stopping large-scale green hydrogen construction projects and redirecting huge funds and clean energy resources to the AI computing power track reflects a new investment logic for the new energy industry.

Heavy project termination and landing

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company Masdar has officially cancelled the 100 MW green hydrogen project in the Musafa Industrial Zone of Abu Dhabi. The preliminary work of the project will start in 2024, planning to produce renewable hydrogen energy to supply local steel enterprises for green steel manufacturing. The FEED contract will be won by NT Energies. The project bidding gathers multiple well-known domestic and foreign enterprises, including Envision Energy, POWERCHINA, and other entities. The company had previously extended the validity period of the quotation and officially announced the termination of the project on August 1, 2026.

The trend of energy investment is shifting

The suspension of this project is not an isolated case, highlighting the global green hydrogen industry's development dilemma of weak demand and high costs. Masdar originally planned to produce 1 million tons of green hydrogen annually after 2030, but this goal was postponed in October 2024. Enterprises are adjusting their capital allocation and shifting their investment of billions of dollars in green hydrogen and the 6GW installed capacity resources of $6 billion desert solar projects towards the fields of artificial intelligence and data centers, in order to seize the development dividends of the computing power track. Keywords: green hydrogen industry, energy investment transformation

The pace of industrial transformation is slowing down

Despite the suspension of large-scale green hydrogen projects, the local green steel pilot work is still progressing in an orderly manner. The 2.1MW electrolytic cell green hydrogen pilot plant, which will be launched in October 2024, can support up to 5000 tons of green steel production annually. Overall, the pace of industrialization and expansion of green hydrogen in the UAE has significantly slowed down, and energy companies are re balancing the return on new energy with the demand for emerging technologies, opening up a new layout model for the integration of energy and digital industries.Editor/Min Jing