Project Nour Area Onshore Mauritania

studies to evaluate the feasibility of producing green hydrogen. “The fourth MoU was signed in March this year with Infinity Power and Conjuncta,” Vetah said. “This project will develop a plant over three phases with 15 GW of renewable energy for 10 GW electrolysis and a production of 8 million tonnes of ammonia. The first phase is expected to be operational by 2028.”

He said all four projects were ambitious, planned on a massive scale, and an indication of the country’s commitment to transitioning towards a low-carbon economy. “The importance of the current developments cannot be overemphasized. Hydrogen will play a critical role in Mauritania’s economic development and sustainable growth, creating much-needed employment along with a host of other opportunities along the value chain.”

Philippe Martinez, managing director of IFP Training ME, a subsidiary of the IFP EN group, said hydrogen had the potential to offer several benefits to Mauritania. “As a clean and renewable source of energy, it can reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and lower its carbon emissions. Secondly, the production and export of hydrogen could provide economic opportunities for Mauritania. The country has significant reserves of iron ore; hydrogen could be locally used to produce green steel on a massive scale .”

He said the first LNG gas production — expected by the end of the year — would bring about much-needed economic change, but this would not be enough to drive the country’s growth path.

“Mauritania’s strong offshore winds and very good sun conditions possibly provide one of the best combined renewable energy resources in the world which would allow them to significantly reduce the cost of hydrogen produced. Leveraging its resources and its ability to drive down the cost there is no arguing that it could become a major exporter of green hydrogen.”

Maurilog’s Yaha said while there was much excitement in Mauritania over the hydrogen developments this past year, there were several challenges that the country would have to overcome.

“The infrastructure required for the production, storage, and transport of hydrogen is non-existent. This means we will need significant investments to build the necessary infrastructure and establish the supply chain for it,” he said.

New roads, railways, pipelines and at least one port are necessary for the hydrogen strategy to stand any chance of success. “While this is in some respects a challenge, it is an opportunity for the project sector as it simply means more work. At the very least a new port will have to be built, while the existing two ports in the country would need to be upgraded. The country also does not have the necessary heavy equipment and that will all have to be brought in.”

Questions about skills shortages also abound, but according to Martinez, this is not as big an issue as one might think. “When it comes to renewables it is much easier in terms of competency than oil and gas, for example. The wind is there and the sun and almost everyone knows where it is coming from. The project logistics capability will also be quite easy to address.”

Said Yaha: “It is not a difficult country to do logistics in and moving project cargo is not necessarily any more challenging here than in many other locations in Africa. The government will have to find the resources, however, to upgrade and expand its infrastructure to do so efficiently.”

According to IFP Training ME’s Martinez, the bigger challenge lies in the unpredictability that still exists around hydrogen itself. “There is still no international hydrogen market. This makes it very difficult to draw up a business plan as one is unable to foresee what will be sold to whom. This is a challenge not just faced by Mauritania, of course, but all countries looking at hydrogen production.”

Also, given that green hydrogen projects are only in their early stages of development, the prices and costs of the main project drivers remain uncertain.

“At this stage, the assumption is that the hydrogen will be converted into ammonia which will be transported and exported. It is an easy enough derivative and the market has shown steady growth over the past few years and is expected to continue growing around 5 or 6 percent per annum,” Martinez said. In light of growing competition in the hydrogen sector, Mauritania was considered to be doing well. “The government has taken a pragmatic approach and is doing very well in what they have achieved so far. Moving faster will, however, become necessary. One must not forget that when it comes to hydrogen there is no infrastructure anywhere ready to use, but the competition is fierce and there are plenty of locations where it could happen. Being the first to market could hold significant advantage for Mauritania,” Martinez said.

By Liesl Venter