Rabat – As a leading renewable energy producer, Morocco currently holds a 19.3% share of the total blue and green hydrogen projects in the MENA. Recent research by the Abu-Dhabi-based Clean Energy Business Council (CEBC) found that the Middle East and North African region is projected to be the world’s largest global supplier of green hydrogen.
Green hydrogen is considered to be a vital asset for a global transition to net-zero emissions, as it produces hydrogen through a process called electrolysis which splits water with power produced by renewable energies. Meanwhile, blue hydrogen powers electrolysis with fossil fuels and then uses carbon capture technologies to cut greenhouse emissions.
Thus, blue hydrogen provides a less polluting transition option towards green hydrogen which is expected to play a “vital role .. in decarbonization and in the clean energy transition,” according to CEBC.
The race toward blue and green hydrogen technology appears to be “significant” in the MENA.
CEBC Hydrogen and Energy Storage Working Group recently found that the participation of MENA countries in blue and green hydrogen initiatives grew from 11% to 89% between 2020 and 2021.
The UAE has notably led the regional race with a share of 29% of total projects, ahead of Morocco and Egypt at 19.3% each. Oman followed third with a 12.9% share followed by Tunisia and Saudi Arabia with a tie at 6.4%. Algeria and Bahrain then followed with 3.2% each.
According to CEBC, “pound for pound, hydrogen has about three times the energy of fossil fuels.” In such a context, Morocco has adopted a hydrogen strategy to accelerate its energy transition towards green hydrogen. The country further plans to produce 183,000 tonnes of green ammonia from green hydrogen to secure the decarbonization of its fertilizer industry.
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