Tunisia green hydrogen roadmap to be ready by mid-March

The national roadmap on green hydrogen, which will present Tunisia’s strategic guidelines in this field, should be ready by mid-March 2023, said project coordinator at the German Cooperation in Tunisia (GIZ) Dorra Chida.

Once this roadmap is defined, the national strategy on green hydrogen will be drawn up with a clear action plan in relation to the activities planned to achieve the objectives, she said during a webinar held Thursday under the theme: «Green hydrogen: the technology and countries’ objectives.»

Chida recalled that the national strategy is part of the project «Green hydrogen for sustainable growth and a low-carbon economy in Tunisia” (H2Vert.TUN) launched in February 2022, and which will stretch until January 2025.

It is a €6 million partnership between the German cooperation in Tunisia and the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

The objective is to lay down the conditions for the development of a value chain for green hydrogen (H2) and its derivatives in Tunisia.

In addition to the national strategy, this project targets two aspects: achieving a green H2 economy and developing research, training and innovation in the field of green hydrogen.

Once the national strategy is devised, the last phase of the project aspires to develop priority sectoral strategies with the three action plans for Tunisia.

Chida also revealed that the steering committee, created within the framework of this project to monitor all the activities related to green hydrogen in Tunisia, has already identified the sectors of activities that could encourage investors to develop projects in the country.

“The committee has already carried out feasibility studies and identified sites with economic potential for production, while meeting the requirements related to the environmental and social aspects,” she said.

“We are also working on the creation of an observatory, or a monitoring structure, because hydrogen is a new growth niche, particularly in terms of the development of new technologies.”

The GIZ project coordinator added that this monitoring structure will present to the government and Tunisians all novelties related to green hydrogen and will share information on Tunisia’s achievements in this field.

She stressed the importance of having a clear legal and investment framework, saying that Tunisia already has a regulatory framework governing renewable energy, which should be adapted to the green hydrogen sector.

We are also going to work on a cartography and identify on the map of Tunisia the most interesting sites for wind and photovoltaic, announced Chida.

Consultations with several other states on this sector will continue, particularly with Chile, one of the leading countries in this field.

There will be soon discussions with the European Union to identify available funding, she pointed out.