India, Saudi Arabia sign hydrogen agreement

India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to jointly develop electrical interconnections and low-carbon hydrogen. The Indian government said the two sides aim to establish a general framework for cooperation in the field of co-production of green/clean hydrogen and renewable energy.

The MoU was signed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by union minister for power and new & renewable energy RK Singh and the minister of energy, Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud on the sidelines of the MENA Climate Week 2023.

The MoU comes nearly a month after both countries signed an agreement for cooperation in energy which envisaged cooperation in renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid interconnection, strategic petroleum reserves, energy security among others.

India has been exploring linking its power grid with those of Saudi Arabia and the UAE through subsea cables from its west coast and with the power grid of Singapore from the east coast. By sharing power resources across regions, countries can reduce the need for costly renewable energy storage solutions and improve the reliability of their power grids.

India’s pursuit of grid interconnectivity could also prove critical to its long-term economic and energy security goals. India is pursuing the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) plan, which aims to connect countries through a global power grid.

The statement said that it was decided between the two energy ministers that B2B Business Summits and regular B2B interactions between the two countries would be conducted to establish complete supply and value chains in the above-mentioned areas of energy sector coopration.

He also called upon MENA countries to join the recently launched Global Biofuels Alliance in order to advance international cooperation in sustainable biofuels to realize the full potential of the alliance. He said that the alliance aims to facilitate cooperation in intensifying the development and deployment of sustainable biofuels, to facilitate trade in biofuels and much more, in collaboration with international biofuels organizations.