All ‘Europe serves green hydrogen replace up to 50 billion cubic meters per year imported Russian gas and decarbonize the industry hard to suppress, which is the most difficult to convert. Search in it Africa, but there are several obstacles, starting with the resources needed to craft it. On paper, for countries like Morocco and Egypt it means being at the heart of European funding and a strategic good more. At the same time, according to several observers, the race for green hydrogen, for which there has not yet been any large-scale industry, could become a “hoard neocolonial of resources,” as reported in a dossier by Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute. Because this hydrogen is obtained from water electrolysis, which can be operated with electricity from renewable sources. Ergo: To produce it requires an enormous installed capacity of renewable. So sun, wind, soil and water. The funds would come from Europe. But to Africa and in particular to the Maghreb It is better to use the available resources to produce hydrogen to export instead of using them directly in the decarbonization? “It also depends on how implementation of the transition“He explains ilfattoquotidiano.it aldo league, Research Associate at the Institute for International Political Science. “In Morocco – he says – the realization of some solar farms is a problem in the management of land, between farmers and farmers. The transition becomes problematic when it is complete Behavior VAT, without consultation between governments and local communities. There is a risk.”
Brussels plans – To meet and reduce your goals dependency from Russian gas, in May 2022 the European Commission presented the new plan ‘RePower Eu‘, achieving the annual production target of 5 to 10 tons green hydrogen by 2030. Another 10 tons are expected to be imported from abroad, 80% of which from Africa, where several countries already have projects in the pipeline. There is EgyptMorocco, Algeria and Namibia, which averages 300 days of sunshine a year and where the first will be active in 2024 green hydrogen power plant from across the continent. Egypt has co-signed several ‘Memorandums of Understanding’ foreign companies (also Italian) in terms of export, although it is one of the first countries in the region MENA (Middle East and North Africa) to use green hydrogen.
From Egypt to Morocco – Among the European countries that are more advanced in the search for green hydrogen produced in Africa is the Germany. In 2021 Anya Karlicekthe former German research minister, has signed a partnership with Namibia and announced an investment of 40 million euros Fund studies on the best technologies and locations where green hydrogen can be produced. These are “so expensive transitions – explains the league – that they cannot be managed independently by these countries”. A joint venture between the British Nicholas Holding and the German energy transfer Instead, he will lead the project Dash Hydrogen Energy Pro $9.4 billion: in the desert Namibia 300,000 tons of hydrogen per year are to be produced (not only green). Germany has also signed agreements with the Moroccowhile the “green partnership” establishes a new collaboration between the North African country and the EU. “It is now common to enter into partnerships for the development of this supply chain, but – notes the ISPI researcher – the most important agreements relate to gas. If in Egypt – she says – the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenannounced the birth of a Mediterranean hydrogen partnership, did so when signing an agreement on the export of gas naturally“. In Algeria, too, hydrogen comes from fossils, on which half of the national budget depends. The evaluation of a green hydrogen pilot project a Bir Rebaa Northin the Algerian desert ‘is provided for in the agreement between Eni and sonatrach to increase gas imports to Italy via the pipeline TransMed. Eni then signed an agreement with the Egyptian energy companies EEHC and IT IS GAS to carry out feasibility studies for the manufacture of hydrogen both green and blue.
The required resources – In order to meet the European demand for green hydrogen, the Maghreb countries should increase their installed renewable capacity exponentially. In 2021, Morocco unveiled a road map. “According to the basic scenario – writes Liga in an analysis published for theIspi – another 8 GW on renewable energy by 2030, 36.7 GW by 2040 and 78.2 GW by 2050”. The country is currently at 3.5 gigawatts. In Egypt 36 GW would be required, today the capacity (including hydropower) is 6.2 GW. The Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute dossier focuses on the case ofAlgeria: if the country wanted to replace the revenue exports of green hydrogen gas, “it should install 500 GW of solar panels, more than a thousand times the current capacity.” That renewablemoreover, they have an intermittent nature. However, the problem can be solved by connecting the systems to a public power grid fuels fossils. The production of green hydrogen requires a lot of electricity and water, which limits the availability of land and subjects primary. “During electrolysis – the researcher explains – around 40% of the electricity used is lost process, which requires 9 liters of water for every kilogram of hydrogen”. An important element in countries with high water stress such as Morocco and Egypt.
fears of looting – In short, African countries should use them their potential instead of decarbonizing European industry. “It’s true – explains Liga – but I European funding they should support their decarbonization. On the other hand, the European industry is much more polluting than the African one”. In the global struggle al change climaticTherefore, reducing a country’s emissions is considered a priority Germany. In the near future, however, an increase in domestic consumption is also planned for Africa energy extremely large, which could also do that emissions. Is there a risk that the lack of exports of important resources to Europe will mean that some countries lack access to energy? “It could be a problem for them Sub-Saharan Africa countriesbut when it comes to exports hydrogenis generally referred to the Maghreb”. However, comfort must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. “It depends on the country – he replies – on the crowd hydrogen (and therefore from renewable energy) that must be produced, from the impacts of the plants and how to mitigate them in the most equitable and fair way for the people community local people“.
There is no green hydrogen industry – According to the researcher, “It’s difficult forecasts in such an underdeveloped sector”. In fact, less than 1% of hydrogen is produced today Europe it’s green, almost everything comes from fuels fossils. Hence a consideration: “If we have ten years to try to get back into the climate targetsParis Agreement, we cannot rely on green hydrogen, for which no large-scale industry has developed so far. Only in the coming decades will it perhaps be able to make a contribution to the ecological turnaround”. And another issue emerges: in addition to justifying the construction new infrastructure and adapting those used by the fossil fuel sector, green hydrogen could pave the way for the blue “low carbon” hydrogen made from gas with CO2 sequestration. In the dossier “The Illusion of Green Hydrogen” ReCommon reminds that a few days after the launch of RePower EU, thirty-one companies (including the Italian Snam) that have joined the European Hydrogen Backbone Initiative presented their projects investments for a hydrogen market based on five import corridors. The first connects Italy to North Africa. there snam together with the austrian subsidiaries tag and gca as well as other european companies, it is at the forefront. “We are not talking – explains ReCommon – about only producing for sectors that are difficult to reduce”, but about producing “as much hydrogen as possible in each colour”.
The cost point – Another obstacle is the cost of production: according to the Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute, they are on average 11 times higher than that of the gas. Because of the making of regrowing plants and electrolysers, strengthening the grid, but also a storage and transport. “Exports outAfrica They could happen in three ways,” Liga explains. For example through the construction of gas pipelines (or the adaptation of existing infrastructures) or by the liquefaction and subsequent regasification. Morocco and Egypt are studying the possibility of enforcing this oil tankerbut the Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute report notes that “it takes three times as much energy to produce hydrogen in liquid form liquefy the LNG”. Therefore, with the same volume, these ships would only transport 27% of the generated energy natural gas. The third mode is transport in the form of ammoniato be converted back to hydrogen at the destination using existing technologies and infrastructure. Whose convenience is all out evaluate.
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