Green hydrogen: a promising sector for Africa?
Audio 02:23
Combined wind and solar farms will make it possible to produce green hydrogen in Namibia.
(Illustrative image) © Hyphen Hydrogen Energy
By: Charlotte Cosset Follow
2 min
The production of green hydrogen is still in its infancy.
It represents less than 1% of global hydrogen production.
However, this sector is buoyant and many countries on the African continent are turning to it, such as Egypt, Morocco and Algeria.
Work on a large project in Namibia is even set to start in the coming year.
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Namibia is convinced of this. Green hydrogen is a sector of the future for the African continent. "
For Namibia, given our unique characteristics, we believe this opportunity could represent a great future," said
James Mnyupe is the Namibian President's Economic Advisor and Hydrogen Commissioner
. Of course, if you are a landlocked country and don't have significant amounts of solar and wind resources, it might be a bit complicated. Green synthetic fuels made from renewable energies could represent a very bright future for Africa.
"
And that is why the company Hyphen Hydrogen Energy decided to embark on an extraordinary project in Namibia.
"
Namibia will become the richest country per capita in Africa,
think its
Managing Director, Marco Raffinetti
.
The country is unique, so small but with such enormous resources.
And the proportion of our investments once our project is fully developed, compared to the Namibian economy is roughly its GDP.
And this with our only project.
"
Economic equation
On paper, many positive points: a lower cost than so-called “gray” hydrogen, as well as a vector of investment and attraction of foreign capital.
Maxime Sagot is the head of institutional relations at France Hydrogen.
While the sector is promising, some technical aspects still need to be clarified: “
Once it is produced, it is still necessary to be able to transport it to Europe.
This still requires the establishment of a substantial supply chain, still expensive,
notes Maxime Sagot
.
This hydrogen must be transported in tankers in the form of liquid hydrogen.
This means that the economic equation will be very important, crucial, in these great schemes which are now being developed between European countries and countries like Namibia.
"
Carbon footprint
“
On the carbon footprint actually initially, these tankers will run on fuel like all the rest of international trade by sea, however,
said Maxime Sagot.
If
we look at the carbon footprint, the gains finally obtained in terms of reducing emissions thanks to this hydrogen which will be used in Europe in industry to decarbonize industrial processes in refining, in chemicals and in steel manufacturing. , this hoped-for gain is much greater than the emissions during the routing phase.
"
When some European countries see the production of green hydrogen in Africa as a way to decarbonize their industry, France sees markets to be conquered.
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Namibia
Energies
Economy Africa