The future of energy is not going to be cheap

The UAE's Minister of Energy, Suhail Al Mazrouei said that while hydrogen is a low carbon gas, it comes with its challenges; mainly the cost of its production and transportation. 

“We need to be frank with the consumers, the future energy is not going to be cheap, it will be expensive,” said Al Mazrouei during a panel at ADIPEC. “We need to diversify our energy sources, but let's not be mistaken, it's not going to be cheaper or the same prices.”

The Emirati minister said that the UAE which eyes 25 percent of the global hydrogen market has the infrastructure; therefore, they can use their resources that can be deployed and expanded. 

The UAE, the third-biggest oil producer in OPEC, has already been working on expanding their presence in hydrogen. They have already signed agreements with Germany and Japan.

“We will play a role, we are going to spearhead some initiative in regards to hydrogen. We put a very aggressive target and we will do it and we will work with the industry,” said Al Mazrouei.

The minister warned that there remains countries in the world that are suffering from energy poverty. Speaking on the same panel was the Ministers of energies in Uganda and Lesotho who both said that hydrogen is an expensive energy platform especially when there remains a considerable number of their population without electricity.