The Middle East region is “hugely important” both throughout the energy transition and afterwards, Gavin Towler, the VP and CTO of American conglomerate Honeywell says.
Currently, countries across the region are making big bets on the future of energy, often to the tune of billions of dollars. Headline grabbing investments include Saudi Arabia’s $5 billion green hydrogen facility at the futuristic city of NEOM or the UAE’s commitment to spend $163 billion on transitioning to renewable energy by 2050, but these countries are far from alone, Towler explains.
“The region is hugely important. Every country, it’s not just Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, but every country in the Middle East is developing its own plans for making its energy supply sustainable and as a key supplier of energy to the whole globe,” Towler says.
“The Middle Eastern region, is planning to continue to be a supplier of energy. If the form of the energy needs to change, and they need to supply hydrogen or other forms of energy instead, then they will do that, they have the money to invest,” he adds.
In addition to hydrogen, which has been a hot topic of conversation as a sustainable driver of the future, the Middle East also has huge potential for other renewables. Already, it is home to huge solar farms and has some of the best areas for solar energy in the world. Towler says the region also has a high potential to be a wind power exporter as “a lot of regions are relatively sparsely populated.” These factors mean that “the Middle East can continue to be a major energy supplier to the world.”
“I think all of the national oil companies and private companies in the region are thinking very long term in terms of how they rebalance their portfolio to continue to be in business supplying other countries around the world with energy in the future,” he says.
Government action needed
While the conversation has accelerated regarding sustainability in the energy industry, for change to happen fast enough, governments will need to provide the proper incentives, Towler says.
“Everyone’s trying to understand what the pace of transition will be, and how they can meet the societal need for reducing carbon footprint. But of course, the energy industry has to return a payback to its investors as well. The energy industry can’t just go out and throw money at the problem unless there are incentives, unless governments take action to support the kind of investments that are needed,” he explains.
When asked whether he believes the pace of change is happening fast enough to achieve the 1.5C global temperature rise outlined by the Paris Accords, Towler says, “It’s not at the moment, but I think that’s widely recognised by people in the industry.”
“We need to see some changes in the legislative framework as well as in the setting of clear targets by governments before you’ll see the investment being unlocked,” he comments.
Can’t cut what you can’t measure
Some technologies that are needed to power the energy transition, such as wind and solar power, are already highly developed, but others, for example hydrogen, need further development. However, for the energy industry, and other sectors, to actually cut emissions effectively, they need to be able to measure their emissions effectively, Towler explains.
“If you’re going to set out to reduce your carbon footprint, it’s important that you are able to measure that and that you’re able to set a benchmark and then show that you’re actively reducing your carbon footprint against what you’ve measured.
“You can say you’re cutting, but if you’re not measuring it, you don’t know that you’re actually achieving it. So you have to be able to measure, and measurement systems mean sensors for measuring and reporting systems. Digitalisation plays a key role in accurately showing the progress that you’re making towards achieving lower greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.
In addition to measurement, Towler says that decarbonising industries and sectors that can’t be easily be electrified will be key. For this, he points to hydrogen as the answer. Honeywell expects that hydrogen will expand to as much as 5% of the global energy supply in the future, he explains.
There are several varieties of hydrogen under discussion, such as green hydrogen, which is made using renewable energy, and blue hydrogen, made from natural gas in combination with carbon capture, utilisation, and storage technology.
“You can obviously make hydrogen from wind and solar but you can also make it from natural gas with carbon capture, and you can continue burning natural gas in gas turbine engines also if you have carbon capture. We’re talking to a lot of customers and have about 20 active programs globally, looking at putting carbon capture either on existing gas turbines, or as part of making blue hydrogen,” he says.
