The production of green hydrogen in North Africa is considered one of the solutions adopted by Europe to implement its plan to supply this clean fuel, especially in light of the great untapped potential that the countries of the African continent enjoy. The European Union aims to import about 10 million tons annually of green hydrogen by 2030.
In light of this, African countries are rushing to sign memorandums of understanding and submit offers to finance projects in Africa. African countries enjoy strong solar and wind energy resources, in addition to available land and gas export pipelines to Europe.
There are several countries on the continent of Africa that are considered a potential center for the production of green hydrogen, and we will present the experience of several countries, including (Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria). Despite the advantages enjoyed by the continent of Africa, there is a state of uncertainty regarding the demand for clean green hydrogen. In addition to the presence of several challenges facing the green hydrogen sector and its export, which has made the announced projects face many challenges, we will now begin presenting green hydrogen projects in Egypt:
Egypt has a plan to produce green hydrogen; Egypt aims to produce 3.2 million tons of green hydrogen each year by 2030 and about 9.2 million tons by 2040.
In November 2022, Egypt witnessed the holding of the COP27 climate conference, which was held in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh. At this conference, Egypt announced its plan to produce green hydrogen, and most of the green hydrogen projects are located in the Special Economic Zone of the Suez Canal.
There are 8 framework agreements, most of which were with Total Energy, the Australian company FFI, the Saudi company Al-Fanar, the French company EDF Renewables, the Indian company Renew Power, the UAE company Amiya Power, and the UAE company Masdar. .
The climate conference witnessed the European Union signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Egypt aimed at cooperating in the regulatory framework, in addition to supporting the infrastructure for green hydrogen production. A framework agreement was signed between Egypt and the Saudi Power Company, in addition to the Chinese company China Energy and 2X.
There are preliminary agreements with the Indian-Emirati Ossior Energy for green hydrogen and ammonia projects, and Egypt has 24 green hydrogen projects that were agreed upon at the end of January 2023, including about 19 green hydrogen projects and about 3 projects related to blue hydrogen or blue ammonia projects, in addition to two projects for ship bunkering stations.
During the COP27 climate conference, Egypt succeeded in operating one pilot project to produce green hydrogen. The production capacity of the project is about 15 megawatts and is being developed by Vertiglobe. The slowdown in project implementation is due to the doubts surrounding the purchase of green hydrogen.
Egypt aims to use hydrogen to produce ammonia or methanol in order to supply ships passing through the Suez Canal. However, most shipping companies – which have signed agreements to purchase green methanol, such as Maersk – are moving to obtain fuel from biomethane in the short term.
Egypt approved a set of incentives for developers of green hydrogen projects, but it stipulated that these projects secure about 70% of their financial needs from financiers outside the country, which is considered another obstacle to the development of projects. The German government development bank has listed Egypt and Morocco among the countries eligible to submit applications for… Grant.
The Kingdom of Morocco is considered a potential supplier of cheap hydrogen to Europe due to the country's ability to benefit from solar and wind resources; Due to its proximity to Spain and the availability of a pipeline to transport this clean fuel, Morocco received support from the European Union during the COP28 climate conference worth about 50 million euros through the Green Partnership with Morocco program aimed at decarbonisation.
The cost of producing green hydrogen in Morocco will not be much lower than its production in Spain, which will effectively offset the additional cost of building a pipeline. Morocco hopes that the domestic product of hydrogen will reach about 4 terawatts per hour, which will be equivalent to 121 thousand tons, and Morocco exports about 10 terawatts per hour. hour, which is equivalent to 303 thousand tons by 2030, and the OCP Group – which is considered one of the largest fertilizer companies in the world – is working to produce green hydrogen and avoid fluctuations in gas prices by developing projects to focus on clean energy.
The group is working to spend about $1.5 billion of its budget on a factory to produce green ammonia. The factory’s production capacity is about 200 thousand tons annually. The factory is expected to begin production during the year 2026, and $7 billion is allocated to establish another factory, but it will have some advantages, as It will be larger in size, and the project’s production capacity will reach about one million tons annually, and it will begin operation in 2027.
Morocco intends to build a huge hydrogen pipeline linking 11 countries in West Africa. It is planned to be built with a length of 5.6 thousand kilometers, and will be operated in parallel with the natural gas pipeline linking Nigeria and Morocco, with a value of about 25 billion dollars.
Total Energy intends to implement a hydrogen production project with investments amounting to about 100 billion dirhams and depends on generating 10 gigawatts of solar and wind energy. As for local companies in Morocco, Falcon Capital intends to implement the “White Dunes” project with the aim of producing green hydrogen. The investment cost of the project will be approximately 2 billion dollars.
Morocco has about 8 projects aimed at producing green hydrogen, but so far they are still at an early stage, which leads to a delay in the issuance of incentives for hydrogen production.
Algeria has a plan that aims to provide 10% of European demand for green hydrogen, and this came by 2040, especially in light of the country’s planning to establish an undersea pipeline, whose goal is to transport fuel to Italy via Tunisia, but the agreement to establish the line has not been signed yet.
Germany provided approval to finance a pilot project worth about 20 million euros and with a capacity of about 50 megawatts in the city of Arzew, which is located west of Algeria. The financing came as part of a commitment to build the infrastructure for production and export and will be on a large scale for Europe.
The Algerian company Sonatrach plans to cooperate with the South African company Sasol to produce low-carbon hydrogen in Sicily, with a volume of 7,800 tons annually and 25,000 tons of low-carbon gas annually. OPEC stated that Algeria already has about 4 green hydrogen projects that have been completed. Opening by the end of 2023.
European Union countries have made promises to Mauritania regarding projects to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives. Mauritania currently has 4 projects, and October witnessed the European Union launching an initiative aimed at supporting renewable energy and infrastructure projects in Mauritania.
The European Commission proposed the possibility of producing green iron and steel by taking advantage of the potential of green hydrogen and iron ore reserves with the aim of exporting it to the European Union. Mauritania has received a number of projects proposed by international developers, and despite all of this, Mauritania is still at an early stage.
A Danish company, Go Energy, is planning to build a plant to produce green hydrogen. It will be built in the shape of a crescent, and its production capacity will reach about 35 megawatts by generating 60 gigawatts of renewable energy (sun, wind).
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