June 03, 2024 [Hydrogen Insight]- The Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi developer ACWA Power for a multi-gigawatt green hydrogen project geared towards EU exports.
The first stage will feature 2GW of electrolysis capacity, as well as 4GW of newbuild renewables, in order to produce 200,000 tonnes of H2 a year, before ramping up to 600,000 tonnes a year in two subsequent phases.
ACWA Power, which is part-owned by Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle PIF, is one of the developers behind the 2.2GW Neom green hydrogen and ammonia complex, which is the largest project to have reached financial close and started construction to date.
While a timeline for construction of the Tunisian project has not been detailed, ACWA Power plans to export the green hydrogen to Europe via the proposed SoutH2 pipeline, which would run from Tunisia and Algeria to Italy, Austria and Germany from 2030.
SoutH2 was included in the EU’s sixth list of Projects of Common or Mutual Interest, which are eligible for accelerated permitting and funds from the multi-billion-euro Connecting Europe Facility for energy.
Tunisia had last week outlined in its national green hydrogen strategy plans to produce 8.3 million tonnes of H2 a year by 2050, of which 6.3 million tonnes would be exported primarily to the EU.
The government had also signed an MOU with Austrian utility Verbund and TE H2, a joint venture between oil major TotalEnergies and renewables developer Eren Group, for a feasibility study into a gigawatt-scale green hydrogen project.
This proposed facility, dubbed H2 Notos, would also produce 200,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year in its first phase before ramping up to one million tonnes of annual production.
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