Mauritania will have 80GW of electrolyser capacity if all of its planned hydrogen projects come to fruition, according to the country’s minister of petroleum, mines and energy Abdessalam Mohamed Salh.
CWP Global, Chariot, TotalEnergies, BP, Conjuncta, Infinity and Masdar are among the companies planning projects in Mauritania, Salh told the Africa Hydrogen Forum in Rotterdam today. But these projects are still in the planning phases, and with no final investment decisions taken so far, there are remain considerable hurdles to overcome.
Finding administrative and logistical support from the right international organisations and unlocking finance are the key challenges, according to Salh. The 80GW of projects could require as much as $80bn of investment, equivalent to $4bn/yr over a 20-year timeframe, which is huge compared with the size of Mauritania’s economy, he added.
The next steps are to mobilise funding. Several African governments jointly called for funding at a conference in Nouakchott last month.
“The ball is in the court of the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank to help unlock the potential of Africa,” Salh said.
At today’s conference, BP’s vice-president for hydrogen in Spain and new markets, Carolina Mesa Ivern, shed some light on her company’s plans in Mauritania, which were first announced in November last year. BP is working closely with the Mauritanian government and has determined where it intends to set up its project, Mesa Ivern said. The firm has carried out initial environmental, social and logistics studies and is installing the first measurement equipment on site this week, she said.
Mesa Ivern sees the lack of port infrastructure to receive equipment for renewable power generation, such as large wind turbines, as a potential challenge for projects in Mauritania and elsewhere in Africa. It will be important to make sure that the whole supply chain works, she said.
Concentrating several projects in Mauritania could offer developers the potential to reduce costs by sharing ports and other infrastructure, German developer Conjuncta said recently when it announced plans for a joint 8mnt/yr ammonia project in the country.
Source : Argus Media
