Largest green hydrogen project to begin construction in Malaysia

Malaysia’s largest green hydrogen project so far, a 60MW plant in the state of Perak powered by floating solar, has secured a 1.88bn-ringgit ($393.6m) loan from Singaporean investment firm Capitale Ventures.

The project’s developer, Semarak Renewable Energy, had earlier this year signed a contract worth the same amount with Chinese state-owned construction firm PowerChina for design, engineering, procurement and construction of the hydrogen production and storage assets, as well as the upstream floating photovoltaics.

However, while at around 6,000 tonnes of annual H2 production capacity the facility is the largest to reach financial close in Malaysia to date, it could soon be dwarfed by two projects being developed in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Front-end engineering and design on H2biscus — a 150,000 tonnes-a-year project developed by Korean companies Samsung Engineering, Lotte Chemical, and Korea National Oil Corporation, as well as Malaysia’s SEDC Energy — is currently under way, with a final investment decision (FID) and the start of construction due at the end of this year.

SEDC Energy is also in the consortium for H2ornbill — a 90,000 tonnes-a-year green hydrogen project reportedly likely to reach FID in 2025 — with Japanese firms Eneos and Sumitomo.

Both Sarawak projects plan to draw on hydropower, which supplies more than two thirds of the state’s electricity, and export most of the H2 produced to other Asian countries. H2biscus aims to ship hydrogen as ammonia to South Korea, while H2ornbill will transport H2 via carrier chemical methylcyclohexane (MCH).

The government of Malaysia calculated in its hydrogen roadmap that it could see a cumulative 648bn ringgits ($136bn) in revenue from H2 exports up to 2050.

The country also aims to build up its own domestic hydrogen demand by promoting the uptake of fuel-cell vehicles and co-firing H2 in gas-fired power plants, which the government expects to create 30.5TWh and 68.2TWh of annual demand between 2041 and 2050.