Mauritania

HDF and ZETDC have signed Zimbabwe’s first utility-scale green hydrogen power plant, with 178 GWh of expected annual electricity production. Rystad Energy, meanwhile, says Africa’s total electrolyzer pipeline has hit 114 GW.

Chigozie Nweke-Eze is an economist, geographer and founder of Integrated Africa Power. He sat down with pv magazine to discuss green hydrogen development in Africa, from the project pipeline to the necessity of “additionality” when it comes to ensuring hydrogen doesn’t become yet another exploited African resource.

US scientists have reported efficient plasmonic photocatalysis for the production of hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide, with no external heat source. Egypt, meanwhile, has started commissioning Africa’s first integrated green hydrogen plant.

Private Infrastructure Development Group recently made a non-binding commitment in Brussels to a provide funds for a project that aims to bring 10 GW of solar to Africa’s Sahel region.

DNV approved HAV Group’s hydrogen-based energy system for cruise vessels, Rolls-Royce agreed to sell hydrogen-powered mtu fuel cell solutions in Germany, and the Mauritanian government signed a deal with CWP to develop a 30 GW green hydrogen project.

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.

The Green Climate Fund has announced it will provide US$150 million in funding to the Desert to Power initiative – a project led by the African Development Bank and spanning several countries that aims to build 10 GW of PV generation capacity in various projects across the Sahel region to the south of the Sahara Desert.

Politicians across the continent will have to decide between their heavily-indebted state utilities or embracing the energy transition, according to one energy analyst.

Illegally re-badged panels were sold on to Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Turkey and even Syria. Italian authorities found 60 tons of panels which will be examined.

A new study shows solar may help reduce water pumping costs in a desert oasis of Mauritania significantly while reducing water losses. Researchers claim PV water pumping may also help prevent desertification.