Shipping giant Maersk tipped for Egyptian wind farm swoop in $15bn green fuels plan
Group recently launched world’s first container ship running off green methanol, which is tipped to slash emissions in the industry
Danish shipping giant Maersk has reportedly agreed to buy half of a 545MW wind farm in Egypt that could form part of a $15bn plan to create a green methanol network for the Suez Canal.
The sources said that the deal is part of a wider strategy announced by Maersk to develop a $15bn network to produce and distribute green methanol in Egypt for the shipping industry.
News of that planned investment emerged last year after the company’s then-CEO Søren Skou met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Global shipping produces around 3% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, with the bunker fuels it relies upon among the most carbon-rich fossil fuels out there.
Green methanol, which can be made using either biomass gasification or via hydrogen produced using renewable electricity and captured carbon dioxide, is seen as having major potential to cut emissions from the sector.
Maersk has ordered a series of container vessels that can run on green methanol from Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Last month, Maersk launched what it said was the world’s first green methanol-powered containership in a ceremony attended by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
At the same time, Maersk and its majority owner, Danish industrial group AP Moller Holding, founded a new company called C2X that will focus on producing the fuel.
C2X, headed by Shell veteran Brian Davis, plans to have annual production capacity of more than three million tonnes of green methanol by 2030.
C2X signed a deal with Egyptian sponsors and partners last week to enable and accelerate the large-scale production of the fuel in Egypt. As part of that, C2X said it will establish projects for generating green energy from wind and solar power.
Maersk declined to comment on whether it had struck a deal to buy part of the Zafarana wind project, developed and owned by Egypt's New and Renewable Energy Authority.
C2X said: “As is common with other such agreements that include an allocation of lands for wind and solar and the industrial facilities needed to realise the project, we are not able to comment on the specifics of the land we have been allocated nor the status of commercial discussions.”
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