SCZone signs $4B MoU with German company to establish 1st plant to convert waste into hydrogen

CAIRO - 1 June 2022: The Suez Canal Economic Zone has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the German company H2 Industries, which specializes in energy storage, to establish the first plant for converting waste into green hydrogen in the economic zone, with investments amounting to about $4 billion.

 

The economic zone said in a statement, Wednesday, that it was signed on the sidelines of the activities of the Egypt Can Industry Conference in its sixth edition, currently being held in the new administrative capital under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

 

The MoU was signed by Yehya Zaki, Head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and Michael Stoch, CEO of H2 Industries, to establish a plant for converting waste into green fuel in East Port Said, with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year of green hydrogen.

 

Zaki stressed the efforts made by the authority to attract this type of investment in the economic zone, especially that this field is one of the sectors targeted by the authority in accordance with the Egyptian state's strategy to transform into a green economy, as well as in conjunction with Egypt's hosting of the Climate Change Summit next November, in addition to that this Industries are based on the availability of components owned by the economic zone, especially those enjoyed by the integrated areas of Sokhna and East Port Said, where the port is adjacent to the industrial and logistic areas, which facilitates the operations of ship catering and export purposes for foreign markets.

 

For his part, Michael Stoch said that the establishment of this first-of-its-kind station to convert waste into green fuel in Egypt is the beginning of the company's expansion in the Middle East and North Africa, pointing out that converting green hydrogen into clean fuel - especially for the aviation sector - is a promising market in conjunction with the global transformation of the green economy and the reduction of carbon emissions, as the plant is expected to absorb about 4 million tons of waste annually.

 

The Suez Canal Economic Zone has signed 6 memoranda of understanding with international companies to establish projects for the production of hydrogen and green fuel. The signing of memoranda of understanding take  place as a prior step until the companies complete the feasibility studies for the projects; then the two parties agree on the items that will be agreed upon, and then sign the final contract during the Climate Change Summit Cop27.