Abstract:

Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier that can play an important role in the global energy transition. In recent years, the world's major countries and regions have introduced a series of policies to support the development of hydrogen energy. Europe has also formulated relevant policies to guarantee regional energy security and promote the development of hydrogen, and cooperated with neighboring countries to develop the hydrogen industry. North Africa has significant potential for renewable energy, but the regional energy composition has been relatively homogeneous, with hydrocarbon accounting for more than 90% of regional energy consumption, which poses a serious obstacle to regional economic and environmental development. With the decline of global renewable energy generation costs and the acceleration of clean energy transition, North African countries have successively put forward national renewable energy development strategies and set long-term goals. With the help of mature policy, technical support, and broad market demand in Europe, the idea of developing green hydrogen industry will be an important opportunity for the North Africa region to break through the development bottleneck. According to the estimation, the cost from local renewable energy power to green hydrogen and then, export to the European market can be competitive with the local European green hydrogen. However, the transition is difficult due to the lack of policies and funding, as well as the high dependence on traditional fossil energy. North African countries need to strengthen policy guidance and promote international cooperation to promote hydrogen development and drive the energy transition of the region, and finally become the global center of hydrogen energy.

Key words: hydrogen energy, North Africa, low-carbon, energy transition, renewable energy, Europe