RES4Africa Foundation is taking major steps in increasing its expertise and operative efforts dedicated to Africa’s green hydrogen sector. This goal is being pursued mainly by organising an operative working group, which gathers periodically and is attended by experts from RES4Africa’s membership network: Enel Green Power, Prysmian, Afry, PwC, RINA, GME, CESI, BFP, Siemens Gamesa, and Soltec. The working group responds to the necessity of fostering knowledge, technical and human capacities, while stimulating the creation of multi-stakeholder partnerships to analyse the current status quo of Africa’s green hydrogen sector and formulate specific advocacy proposals.
Green Hydrogen has been seen as a possible solution to multiple problems: decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors, allowing for seasonal storage to enhance electric systems flexibility, and replacing polluting materials in the production of chemicals, among others. Green Hydrogen could therefore play an important role also in the energy transition, security, and economic development of African countries.
The interest of RES4Africa in green hydrogen came after a first report developed with PwC and titled Green Hydrogen In Morocco: Policy Recommendations to Implement the National Roadmap.
Among African countries, Morocco stands out as a pioneer in the continent, with its ambitious National Roadmap, its technical capacities, and the development of pilot projects. Nevertheless, several challenges have to be overcome in order to put in place a green hydrogen market in the country: the first priority is clarifying the role of green hydrogen in the country’s energy strategy compared to other energy sources and its road-to-market; additionally, Morocco should design and implement a dedicated, integrated, and coherent policy and regulatory framework, along with financing mechanisms, guarantees of origin and safety norms. Finally, it is important to define a clear governance for the market and sector development.
RES4Africa’s Secretary General, Roberto Vigotti, observed that “Green hydrogen is a powerful and promising technology, with the potential of perfectly complementing other renewable energy sources, while maximising social Impact, job creation and efficient management of resources. As the discussion about It gains momentum and national governments initiate specific projects, RES4Africa is investing time and resources in providing a steady and reliable reference point in the debate around green hydrogen”.