The New Oil: Green Hydrogen from the Arabian Gulf

The smarter E Podcast Episode 24 | October 29, 2020

Using 20% of it’s land surface for solar plants the United Arab Emirates could produce enough green green hydrogen for export to match its current oil & gas revenue. Whether and when the UAE will reach that percentage is unclear. But what is certain, is that the UAE like many other countries in the MENA region regard hydrogen as the new green oil.

Thus they are heavily investing in solar and wind energy and working on becoming a leader in green hydrogen export. Hence in this episode we want to shed a light on the role of Dubai, and the MENA region for the new energy world.

On board as the expert of the episode is Cornelius Matthes, most notably he is the Senior Vice President of Dii desert energy, one of the most well-known large scale undertakings in the MENA regions.

The smarter E podcast is all about the current trends and developments in a renewable, decentralized and digital energy industry. Our moderators Tobias Bücklein and Zackes Brustik welcome and interview personalities who shape our industry and drive developments forward. A new episode is published every Thursday.

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Dii was launched in 2009 as a "not-for-profit" entity in Germany to explore the potential and improve market conditions for renewables in the desert areas of the Northern Africa and the Middle East. As Senior Vice President of Dii, Cornelius is a well-respected leader and investor in the renewable energy industry and built several successful clean energy businesses and start-ups within Middle East and Africa.

He has extensive board level experience from 10 years in Deutsche Bank (among others, youngest board member in Deutsche Bank Italy Group) and several renewable energy associations. By building the international shareholder and partner network of Dii (Desertec Industrial Initiative), he was at the forefront of the renewable energy revolution in North Africa and the Middle East.

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