Renewable Energy Tunisia signs green hydrogen deals to step up production By Eva Levesque July 31, 2024, 3:33 PM Yassine Mahjoub via Reuters Connect Tunisia aims to produce 8.3 million tonnes of green hydrogen and its derivatives by 2050 under its green hydrogen strategy Six international agreements signed Plan to supply 6m tonnes to Europe Agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Tunisia has signed six agreements with international companies to develop green hydrogen production as it seeks to expand its clean fuel production capacity. The North African country aims to produce 8.3 million tonnes of green hydrogen and its derivatives by 2050 under its green hydrogen strategy, which was released in October 2023. Much of the hydrogen produced – 6 million tonnes – will be exported to Europe, while the remainder will serve domestic needs. NewsletterGet the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week It signed memoranda of understanding with companies including Norway’s Aker Horizons, Austria’s Verbund, France’s Amarenco and Hydrogène de France and H2 Global of Jordan, according to Tunis Afrique Presse. In June Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power signed a deal with the Tunisian government to develop a project that will produce up to 600,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen for export to Europe. It plans to develop, operate and maintain infrastructure, including electrolysers, 12GW of renewable energy, a desalination plant, storage systems and transmission lines. In May French energy major TotalEnergies partnered with Austrian electricity provider Verbund and Eren Groupe TEH2 in a preliminary deal to supply renewable hydrogen from Tunisia to Europe. BP buys 49% of Oman’s green hydrogen project Tunisia approves $54m loan from Italy Tunisia signs $6.5bn green hydrogen investment deal The H2 Notos project aims to produce 200,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year in southern Tunisia, with the option to ramp up the output to 1 million tonnes per year. Production is likely to start in 2030. Tunisia’s economic growth mainly comes from tourism and trade. The country has ambitious plans for renewable energy as a solution to its economic and environmental challenges, according to the World Bank. In March 2024 the EU, which plans to import around 10 million tonnes of clean hydrogen, handed Tunisia a €150 million ($163 million) grant to support economic reforms and fiscal stability. The hydrogen rainbow Green hydrogen is produced on a carbon-neutral basis through water electrolysis. Turquoise hydrogen is created when natural gas is broken down into hydrogen and solid carbon with the help of methane pyrolysis. Blue hydrogen is generated from the steam reduction of natural gas. Grey hydrogen is obtained by steam reforming fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal. Sometimes other colours are ascribed to hydrogen, based on how it is produced. For red, pink and violet hydrogen, the electrolysers are driven by nuclear power. Yellow hydrogen is hydrogen produced from a mixture of renewable energies and fossil fuels. White hydrogen is a waste product of other chemical processes, while the use of coal as a fuel produces brown hydrogen.