ATA Insights held a webinar on April 25 that focused on green hydrogen opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Only by working together can African nations overcome the obstacles to exploiting their abundant renewables resources and producing affordable green hydrogen – for use at home and in a European economy keen to wean itself off Russian gas, an online event has been told.

Lack of locally-denominated finance, and of sufficiently long-term loans, are well established hurdles to the development of photovoltaics in Africa.

Canadian company First Quantum Minerals will commission 430MW of photovoltaic and wind generation capacity from Total Eren and renewables-for-African-mining specialist Chariot Transitional Power.

The international development entity has already invested $1 billion in local, off-grid electricity networks over the last decade – and attracted a further $1.1 billion in matched funding – and has predicted mini-grids could supply electricity to 490 million people by 2030.

Climate change ambitions announced by the governments of Egypt and Morocco are symptomatic of a desire for clean power sites with regional policymakers leaning towards auction-set payments for clean power, according to a recent webinar.

Magnora will almost double its clean power portfolio in South Africa with the acquisition of a 92% stake in African Green Ventures. With the latter’s management team to hold the remaining shares in the business, Magnora has not revealed how much the acquisition will cost nor how the deal will be structured.

The $87 million Kesses solar project, in Kenya’s Rift Valley town of Eldoret, is set for completion by Spanish developer Alten this year.

Commercial and industrial clients across the continent are turning to solar amid fears ever more cash-strapped conventional electricity companies will be unable to invest in their creaking grids, an online event has heard.

The raised ambition of an already huge renewables-powered hydrogen project in the Southern African nations vividly demonstrates the hydrogen and clean energy potential of a continent which accounted for just 0.5% of the world’s new solar capacity last year, according to trade body AFSIA’s annual report.