Masdar, the clean energy giant of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has pushed back its target to reach 1 million tons per year of green hydrogen capacity beyond 2030, the company’s press office told Bloomberg on Monday.

Masdar, which initially targeted this capacity by 2030, will now aim to reach it over the next decade, according to the press office, which did not elaborate on why plans have been deferred.

Masdar says that it is developing and investing in strategic green hydrogen projects and building scalable platforms in key markets around the world.

“Masdar seeks to be a project owner and integrator of world-scale developments along the entire hydrogen value chain,” according to the firm, whose shareholders include Abu Dhabi’s oil giant ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment company Mubadala, and state utility giant TAQA.

On Monday, Masdar and EMSTEEL, the UAE’s largest publicly listed steel and building materials company, announced the successful completion of a pilot project demonstrating the use of green hydrogen to produce green steel.

Still, Masdar moving the capacity target beyond 2030 likely signals the challenges that green hydrogen is currently facing.

Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO of EMSTEEL, told Bloomberg on Monday that “Green hydrogen is currently more expensive.”

“This highlights the need for alignment with regulators, suppliers, steel producers and customers,” the steel giant’s top executive added.

In recent weeks, major companies in Europe have scaled back some of their green hydrogen plans, either because of regulatory hurdles or a lack of future demand.

In Spain, oil firms Repsol and Cepsa are delaying green hydrogen investment in their home market as the Spanish government is considering making the windfall tax on energy firms permanent.

Further north, Shell and Equinor have ditched plans for low-hydrogen production and transportation in north Europe, due to a lack of demand.

Even the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that policy and demand uncertainty are slowing down green hydrogen adoption.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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