Transporting green hydrogen produced using solar PV in North Africa could be up to 15% cheaper than producing it domestically in Italy, a new study compiled by think tank The European House – Ambrosetti and natural gas giant Snam has found. Thanks to its geographic location and current gas network, Italy has the potential to become an “infrastructural bridge” between Europe and Africa, enabling greater hydrogen penetration in other European countries. The concept of producing green hydrogen via solar-powered electrolysis in more resource-rich countries before transporting it using purpose-built infrastructure – rather than producing it domestically – was also discussed during PV Tech publisher Solar Media’s Green Hydrogen Virtual Summit last month. Despite the current cost of generating hydrogen through renewable-led electrolysis, the European Union has established renewable hydrogen as a priority. Published in July, its strategy calls for 40GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers across the bloc by 2030, with up to 120GW of new renewable capacity to power them.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 08, 2020 08:15 UTC