Green hydrogen, commonly called "the fuel of the future", is one of the most recent and most important renewable energy resources. Strongly recommended and essentially desired by all policymakers in the whole world, il represent the future of the energy transformation in our life.
This "fuel of the future" is produced using wind and solar energy to extract hydrogen atoms from water molecules. The process is considered completely clean because no environmentally harmful energy source is used, unlike gray or blue hydrogen which depends on the exploitation of natural gas, oil or coal.
This new energy source is considered "the fuel of the future" because of its efficiency in energy storage and in the production of liquid fuels as an alternative to fossil fuels.
The Mauritanian context
Mauritania, with its enormous solar and wind potentials and its vast territory, could occupy an advanced place in the first rank of the producing countries of this clean energy.
Following the development of several projects in this field, Mauritania decided, in the first half of this year 2021, to join the global race for leadership in the field of green hydrogen, by signing two memoranda of understanding with international partners.
The two protocols aim to create two projects for the production of green hydrogen, through the installation of wind and solar power plants in the coastal zone, located between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou.
Considerable potentials
According to meteorological data, Mauritania has a solar production capacity varying between 2000 and 2300 kWh per square meter per year, throughout the national territory, in addition to an estimated wind force of around 9 meters per second, throughout the year in onshore.
These estimates are among the highest in the world and are a valuable asset for the future of green investments in Mauritania, if one takes into account the global trend towards stimulating the exploitation of environmentally friendly renewable energies.
With the development of technologies for exploiting renewable energies and the significant drop in the costs of their production, Mauritania has become a leading global destination for investments in the energies of the future.
The challenges of technology
Technological challenges are among the first obstacles that could prevent Mauritania from carrying out its projects in the field of green hydrogen. These challenges are essentially characterized by the absence of skilled labor and the lack of technological means and of an appropriate industrial environment.
Preparations for the launch of these energy projects must be accompanied by a training strategy for private and public actors, to prepare them to actively participate in the implementation and operation phases.
The implementation of this strategy would allow Mauritania to secure a place among the countries best prepared to welcome major investments in the field of green hydrogen.