Investments by Oman Investment Authority (OIA) in a US-based technology firm Electric Hydrogen (EH2) are aimed ultimately at paving the way for the manufacture of electrolysers – multimillion dollar units at the heart of the green hydrogen production process – here in the Sultanate of Oman.

Last October, the Omani wealth fund announced an investment in Massachusetts-based Electric Hydrogen, acclaimed for its ability to manufacture the world’s most powerful electrolysers designed to deliver the lowest-cost green hydrogen.

OIA was among an array of prominent international investors that had participated in a funding round that, to date, has raised around $750 million for EH2. They included Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy, Australian mining and energy firm Fortescue, tech giant Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, bp Ventures, Temasek, Equinor Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Prelude Ventures, Rio Tinto and S2G Ventures, among others.

In remarks featured in the latest edition of its Enjaz & Eajaz newsletter, OIA said an underlying objective behind its investment in the US electrolyser firm is to enable the production of this critical hardware here in Oman.

“OIA and EH2 signed a strategic cooperation agreement to set up green hydrogen production projects. The facilities will use proton exchange membrane technology on a minimum scale, including the local manufacturing of electrolysers to cater for the increasing local demand,” the wealth fund said.

“This is in line with OIA’s series of sustainable investments in renewable energy; the emerging transition to green hydrogen and the aspiration to lead the global energy transition; and to contribute to the national goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.”

As with many of its international investments of this nature, the EH2 investment came from OIA’s Future Generations Fund, which “aims to create sufficient financial reserves for future generations, in addition to attracting knowledge and advanced technologies that have the potential to advance strategic local sectors”, it noted.

EH2’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) based electrolysers, according to the wealth fund, has a high operational capacity of up to 100 MW for each asset, with a capacity to produce about 50 tonnes of low-cost green hydrogen daily.

It is estimated that Oman will require around 500 electrolysers, potentially worth several billions of dollars, in order to meet its target of producing 1 million tonnes per annum of green hydrogen by 2030. Eight international consortiums are currently in the initial phases of their respective project strategies to contribute to this target.

Significantly, EH2 is not the only international company that OIA has tapped in a bid to develop local capacities in support of electrolyser manufacturing in Oman. Last December, the Authority signed an agreement with global tech giant Siemens Energy to explore the potential for establishing an electrolyser manufacturing facility locally.

More recently, IDO Investments, the venture capital arm of OIA, Oman Investment Authority (OIA), participated in a funding round launched by Australian electrolyser company Hysata, credited with building one of the world’s most energy-efficient electrolysers.