Published by Zahra Awan on December 3, 2021

The UAE Global Aluminum Corporation (EGA) has announced plans to develop a roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of EGA’s existing GE natural gas turbines by exploring hydrogen as a fuel and carbon capture, utilization and storage solutions.

EGA CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban and GE Gas Power Europe, Middle East and Africa President and CEO Joseph Anis signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

EGA owns 33 GE natural gas turbines in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, with a total generating capacity of 5,200 MW. Electricity generation accounts for a large proportion of EGA's total greenhouse gas emissions.

The memorandum of understanding between EGA and GE is in line with the ambitions of the UAE government's hydrogen leadership roadmap, which was announced in Glasgow during COP26 earlier this month. The roadmap will include the development of strategies to support low-carbon industries and contribute to the realization of the UAE's net-zero strategic initiative by 2050.

His Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment said:

The MOU is GE Gas Power's first global partner, and aims to help explore potential solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the aluminum industry's power generation business. EGA and GE intend to establish a joint steering committee to develop and promote a roadmap for decarbonization.

EGA CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said: “Aluminum can play an important role in the development of a more sustainable society, and the sustainability of aluminum is also very important. Aluminum smelting is energy-intensive, and the electricity required to generate it accounts for the global aluminum industry. More than half of greenhouse gas emissions. This cooperation with GE will allow us to determine how to reduce the carbon intensity of power generation in the next few years, including switching to hydrogen, and it is us to ensure that EGA’s aluminum can make full use of it to help the world cope with the climate The generational challenge of change. It will also contribute to the realization of the UAE’s hydrogen leadership roadmap."

The decarbonization roadmap will include the following areas:

EGA has self-contained power plants in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah to meet their power needs, and is the largest power plant in the UAE after Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities.

The memorandum of understanding is a continuation of the two companies' joint efforts to improve the sustainability of EGA's operations. In 2017, EGA announced that it would reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions by 16% based on the number of operating hours throughout the year, which is equivalent to reducing 450,000 cars from the roads of the UAE. This 100-day project is part of the government's accelerator program, and the biggest contribution to the reduction comes from the installation of GE's water injection skis for GE 9B gas turbines at EGA's Jebel Ali power plant.

For more information about EGA, please visit www.ega.ae.

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