Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg
KUCHING: Sarawak’s ambition to build a regional hydrogen economy will take a major step forward when it launches the maiden export of green hydrogen to Singapore soon.
According to Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, under a pilot project, Sarawak is set to export hydrogen in solid form of magnesium hydride to Singapore within two months.
“We call this process metallic hydride, which contains hydrogen. It will be exported in solid form and later converted into liquid hydrogen for use in Singapore.
“Sarawak is now capable of producing hydrogen in multiple forms. In this case, it is solid form through metallic hydride,” he said after opening the Sustainability and Renewable Energy Forum 4.0 (SAREF 4.0) here.
SEDC Energy Sdn Bhd, which is developing Sarawak’s hydrogen value chain, is working together with technology partner Hydrexia Holdings Ltd under an agreement to undertake the hydrogen export.
SEDC Energy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sarawak Economic Development Corp.
Hydrexia is a leading provider of integrated hydrogen solutions, specialising in hydrogen production, storage, transport and applications.
“The metal hydride hydrogen storage technology (MHX) stores the hydrogen molecules via magnesium hydride, where this addresses transportation bottlenecks by offering intrinsic safety and higher storage density for road, rail and sea,” according to SEDC Energy in a media statement.
Hydrexia chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Alex Fang said the reusable MHX storage container can safely be transported at ambient pressure and temperature while meeting the highest purity requirements.
“The readiness of our unique MHX has reached the level of wide commercialisation.
“We are committed to serving the needs of hydrogen transport and storage in the South-East Asian region,” he added.
Sarawak Energy is currently producing green hydrogen molecules through a water electrolysis process using a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser, which uses water and electricity from the state grid, at its Darul Hana hydrogen (H2) plant here.
“The Darul Hana H2 plant is designed to produce 150kg of green H2 daily, with the PEM method chosen as the current technology fits the present demand in Sarawak.
“Hydrogen molecules from the Darul Hana H2 plant are transported via tube trailers, which later goes through a hydrogenation process where the molecules are absorbed into the MHX unit.
“The unit will later be exported to the off-take designation where the solid molecules are dehydrogenated for further purpose.
“The first MHX unit will be bound for Singapore, marking the first green hydrogen molecules produced in Sarawak to be exported, laying the foundation for a regional ecosystem and supporting the global energy transition,” said SEDC Energy.
SEDC Energy is currently in talks with several potential off-takers for green hydrogen export in solid form.
SEDC Energy CEO Robert Hardin said having an operationally-ready green hydrogen plant but not utilising its potential is uneconomical.
“With the limited demand (locally), we decided to turn this issue into an opportunity to maximise the plant’s capability.”
Besides operating the Darul Hana H2 plant, SEDC Energy is tasked with the development of a purpose-built hydrogen plant in Rembus, Samarahan to support the Kuching Urban Transportation System, which is now at the initial construction stage.
The hydrogen plant in Rembus will produce the molecules needed for the autonomous rail transit (ART) and feeder buses.
Sarawak is the first city outside China to implement the hydrogen-powered ART system.
According to Sarawak Transport Minister Datuk Sri Lee Kim Shin, the Sarawak government had chosen the ART system over the light rail transit (LRT) because the former is flexible, cost-effective and a sustainable transport option to meet the needs of travellers.
Lee said the estimated development cost of the Kuching ART is about one-third of the LRT project in the Klang Valley (RM70mil per kilometre for ART versus RM270.3mil per kilometre for LRT) as the ART system can be built on existing roads and does not require the extensive infrastructure that LRT does.
SEDC Energy is also driving two large-scale hydrogen projects - H2ornbill (involving a Japanese consortium) and H2biscus (South Korean consortium) that form part of the Sarawak Hydrogen Hub in Bintulu.
The H2ornbill project involves partnership between SEDC Energy, Japanese’s oil firm Eneos and trading house Sumitomo Corp for the development of two hydrogen producing plants.
The H2biscus project, which involves the partnership of SEDC Energy, Samsung Engineering, Posco and Lotte Chemical, will produce hydrogen derivatives.
According to earlier reports, combined, the H2ornbill and H2biscus projects could produce 240,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen, making the Sarawak Hydrogen Hub one of the largest producers of clean energy globally.
The first phase of the Sarawak Hydrogen Hub is scheduled to commence operations in 2028.
In his keynote at the SAREF 4.0, Abang Johari described hydrogen as the “energy of the future.”
He said the global hydrogen industry is rapidly evolving, particularly in logistic and transportation technologies as hydrogen can now be compressed in a tube for export, and that shipping companies are building ships that can carry hydrogen.
Acknowledging that the current electrolysis process to produce hydrogen is costly and energy-intensive, the Premier is confident that advancement in technology and artificial intelligence) will help to bring down the costs.
He said China and Japan had managed to cut the production costs by about 80% and this will one day make hydrogen the cleanest and most viable energy source.
