BP stake swoop to lead $36bn Asian Renewable Energy Hub green hydrogen mega-project: report

BP is poised to take a major stake in the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), one of the planet’s biggest projects to produce vast amounts of green hydrogen from wind and solar, Australian media reported.

The UK-based oil supermajor will imminently announce a deal for an about 30% equity stake in the $36bn AREH, which plans to tap 16GW of onshore wind and 10GW of PV for production of renewable H2 and ammonia, and become the project’s lead developer, according to The Australian.

The AREH is currently led by developers InterContinental Energy and CWP Global, while wind OEM Vestas and Macquarie are also stakeholders in the venture in Pilbara, Western Australia, which hopes to start producing power by 2027.

The AREH is among a clutch of global, often desert-based mega-projects seeking to achieve oil & gas industry-levels of scale to drive down the future cost of green H2.

But the size and cost of such developments has also proved a challenge, with the clout of a fossil supermajor seen by some as crucial to driving them forward.

BP has set some of the most ambitious green goals of any oil & gas player with a target to develop 50GW net of renewables by 2030, and take major positions in both green hydrogen from wind and solar and the blue variety from abated gas.

The company is currently enjoying a profits boom thanks to surging oil & gas prices, with calls from some quarters that it should use the proceeds to enlarge and speed up its energy transition plans.

BP told Recharge that it "does not comment on market rumours". InterContinental Energy has been contacted for comment on The Australian’s report.

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