Speaking to Windpower Monthly, Naheed Memon, chief executive of Oracle Power, said the company had chosen alkaline electrolysers for the project.
“Most projects are looking at alkaline because of its availability and the comfort that they give when it comes to bankability – we can secure it and meet the timelines,” she said.
A recent feasibility study confirmed the project’s mix of renewable energy supply. “Our initial pre-feasibility had estimated 700MW of solar and 500MW of wind to get that 1.2MW to feed into the electrolysers,” Memon said. The final combination will be close to that estimate.
Memon said the project was located in one of the largest and best wind corridors in the world, with wind speeds of up to 8m/s. “That’s a huge optimal output that one can get from wind power. Then a combination of wind and solar is extremely useful for the economics to work,” she added.
Pakistan’s geographical location was beneficial, she explained. “It is ideally located to feed into Asia, southeast Asia and Europe,” she said.
Oracle Power’s project is one-fifth the size of the $8 billion Neom project, which reached financial close in May 2023. Memon said hitting that much-anticipated milestone was “a big relief” for the whole hydrogen sector.
Although Neom was backed by a sovereign wealth fund, other projects “get de-risked when such a huge greenfield project gets project financing”, she added.
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