Most current hydrogen production is the result of extraction from fossil fuels, leading to large carbon emissions (grey hydrogen). Hydrogen: The new energy frontier in AfricaĪs the world seeks to switch to renewable energy amid a growing climate crisis, hydrogen has been presented as a “clean” alternative fuel. There are growing concerns that instead of helping the region with its green transition, these schemes will result in the plunder of local resources, dispossession of communities, environmental damage and entrenchment of corrupt elites. While in Europe such projects may sound like a good idea – helping the continent fulfil its targets of greenhouse emission cuts – the view from North Africa is radically different. In early 2020, Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) launched the MENA Hydrogen Alliance to help set up energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa region that produce hydrogen for export. After an attempt to revive it as Desertec 2.0 with a focus on the local market for renewable energy, the project was eventually reborn into Desertec 3.0, which aims to satisfy Europe’s demand for hydrogen, a “clean” energy alternative to fossil fuels. The Desertec venture eventually stalled amid criticisms of its astronomical costs and its neo-colonial connotations. In 2009, the Desertec project, an ambitious initiative to power Europe from Saharan solar plants was launched by a coalition of European industrial firms and financial institutions with the idea that a tiny surface of the desert can provide 15 percent of Europe’s electricity via special high voltage direct current transmission cables. For years, the Europeans, in particular, have considered it a potential source of solar energy that could satisfy a sizable chunk of European energy demands. The potential of the Sahara desert in North Africa to generate large amounts of renewable energy thanks to its dry climate and vast expanses of land has long been touted.
0 kommentar(er)
