Green hydrogen project to be developed in Egypt

A cluster combining green hydrogen production with solar and wind power generation is set to be developed in Egypt.

Paris-based Voltalia, and its Egyptian partner TAQA Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Egypt to develop, finance, and run the project. The Government of Egypt was represented by Dr. Mostafa Madbouly – Egypt’s Prime Minister, Dr. Mohamed Shaker – Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Dr. Hala El Said – Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Mahmoud Essmat – Minister of Public Enterprise Sector, and Eng Khaled Abu Bakr – Executive Chairman of TAQA Arabia.

The signatories were Mr. Ayman Soliman – CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), Mr. Waleid Gamal ElDien – Chairman of the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), Mrs. Pakinam Kafafi – CEO of TAQA Arabia, Mr. Karim El Ezzawy – Voltalia Country Manager, Dr. Mohamed El-Khayat – Chairman of the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and Eng Salah Ezzat – Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).

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Green hydrogen project

The green hydrogen project is part of the country’s goal of increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix by 42%. The project will be situated near the port of Ain Sokhna in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

It will involve construction of a green hydrogen production facility with a capacity of 15,000 tons per year and a 100 MW electrolyzer that uses 283MW of renewable energy will be used for this output. The will also be room for future expansions to to produce 150,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually with an electrolyzer capacity of up to 1 gigawatt (GW), powered by 2.7 GW of combined solar and wind energy. Voltalia and TAQA Arabia will be the cluster’s original shareholders. TSFE and EETC will have the option to become minority shareholders.

“We are extremely pleased to have signed this Memorandum of Understanding. Voltalia has been active in Egypt since 2017 having developed, built, and operated its Râ Solar project within the Benban cluster. This green hydrogen project will be a first for Voltalia and will allow us to broaden our range of renewable solutions to clients,” said Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.