2024-10-14 14:56:00
Mauritania wants to produce 12 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2035, from solar and wind energy. This Mauritanian green hydrogen would be used to produce green steel and ammonia on site. The regulatory framework is being implemented, but the challenges are enormous.
THE Mauritania voted on September 9 for Africa’s first green hydrogen code. This text should guarantee foreign investments. “ The code was designed to provide sufficient flexibility to adapt to rapid technological and market developments for an emerging industry, underlines Taghiya Abeiderahmane, director of low-carbon hydrogen at the Ministry of Energy of Mauritania, while ensuring a high level of security and reliability for developers. »
First hydrogen code in Africa
This regulatory step was eagerly awaited by one of the developers of the Nour project, which envisages in its first phase 1.6 gigawatts of electrolysis, 150,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, to locally produce green steel and ammonia. “ Once this code is adopted, we and other developers will begin to negotiate our investment agreement, hopes Laurent Coche, CEO of Chariott, co-developer of Total-EREN, be it the tax regime, access to land. There may be shared infrastructure with other developers. And once this agreement is concluded, our intention is to start the next phase of studies, which we call the conceptual phase. »
The first phase of studies, presented last February, concluded that Mauritania’s northern coast has strong potential, particularly wind energy, for electricity production.green hydrogenwhich would reduce, instead of coal, the Mauritanian iron ore, already transported to the port of Nouadhibou.
Difficulties with large electrolysers
The project, which looks good on paper, however faces the difficulties that the sector has recently encountered in expanding electrolysers. “ Industrially there are the first tests at a hundred megawatt level, but they are not mature today, underlines Ludovic Leroy, engineer at IFPEN. Evidently they encounter technical problems that do not allow their nominal use. I am thinking in particular of the Total Energie and Engie groups involved in the project of a 120 megawatt electrolyser at the Mède biorefinery. This project has been entered standby and replaced by another technology that does not involve electrolysis. »
The engineer also highlights the enormous challenges in terms of training and supplying pure water for the electrolysers. In Mauritania the sea water will have to be desalinated.
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