TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, February 10. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Uzbek-Japan Innovation Center of Youth (UJICY) signed an agreement, Trend reports.
The sides signed an agreement on the implementation of the technical cooperation project "Development of innovative technologies for efficient production of green and blue hydrogen to realize a carbon-neutral society, taking into account the industrial and environmental characteristics of the region.".
The signing ceremony symbolizes the beginning of joint efforts to create research models and introduce advanced technologies for realizing a sustainable and viable hydrogen society with strong ties to Japan's academia and industry, and for Uzbekistan to promote carbon neutrality in the Central Asian region by taking a leading position.
The project aims to conduct empirical research and human resource development on advanced technologies related to blue and green hydrogen, taking into account the geography, industrial structure, and environmental features of Uzbekistan.
As a result of mutual cooperation, JICA expects to contribute to various key activities during the 5 years of project implementation: production of blue hydrogen by in-situ catalytic steam reforming in Uzbekistan's waste oil fields; production of green hydrogen by low-temperature steam electrolysis using solar energy and waste heat from Uzbekistan's industry; increasing the efficiency of energy conversion and the long-term operation life of new generation perovskite solar cells in the natural conditions of Uzbekistan.
Also synthesizing new photocatalytic composites for hydrogen production; conducting a study on the feasibility of realizing carbon neutrality using hydrogen energy in Uzbekistan based on feasibility calculations and making proposals to the government of Uzbekistan; and developing the next generation of human resources who will lead the hydrogen society in Uzbekistan.
This project is expected to help improve the government's current efforts to produce clean hydrogen energy by utilizing innovative Japanese technologies and testing a variety of new scientific approaches for this purpose, which will assist Uzbekistan in creating a carbon-neutral society.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan and Japan signed 14 documents in the education, IT, alternative energy, and medicine spheres during the Uzbek-Japanese Business Forum.
The agreements were also signed regarding the use of space technologies in geodesy and cartography.