Egypt and Norway announced plans on Tuesday to establish a major green hydrogen plant in Egypt's Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea following discussions at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27).
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store launched the first phase of the project to produce 100 megawatts (MW) of capacity, on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh this year.
The launch took part on the final day of the Climate Implementation Summit, with more than 100 heads of state and government having convened on the opening days of COP27 to work towards the implementation of existing climate agreements.
El-Sisi hailed the project, which will be implemented in cooperation with the Norwegian energy giant Scatec, saying it provides 'a practical model of investment partnership that stimulates sustainable economic development with a focus on the role of the national and foreign private sector besides the government's role, working side by side in this fruitful sector.'
Scatec is a major developer at Egypt's massive Benban solar park in Upper Egypt's Aswan, which has a total capacity of 1.8 gigawatts (GW), and is one of the largest solar parks in the world.
The Green Hydrogen Plant is part of Egypt’s wider green hydrogen strategy to produce green hydrogen at the cheapest price worldwide.
The strategy, implemented in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Arab Union for Sustainable Development and Environment, seeks to help Egypt contribute 8% to the global hydrogen market, Egypt's cabinet said in a statement on Saturday.
'Green hydrogen has become one of the most important solutions on the way toward a green economy during the coming years. It is an example of how developing countries, including Egypt, are taking great steps. However, we still have to face challenges resulting from the tendency of some countries to back local green hydrogen in a way that decreases their production costs,' El-Sisi was quoted as saying.
He explained that 'this tendency causes an imbalance in the global hydrogen market and contributes to undermining the competitiveness of the green hydrogen produced in developing countries compared to developed countries.'
Meanwhile, during the High-Level Roundtable on Investing in the Future of Energy: Green Hydrogen, on the margins of the Sharm El Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit at COP27, co-chaired with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Egyptian President El-Sisi, and the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, the launch of the Global Renewable Hydrogen Forum was announced.
The Forum constitutes a multi-stakeholder public-private platform designed to facilitate large-scale deployment of renewable hydrogen to foster decarbonization of local industries, accelerate a just transition and unlock the environmental and socio-economic benefits of the global hydrogen economy, and identify the best instruments enabling the cross-border trade of renewable hydrogen between renewables-rich developing countries and developed countries.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr