Tunisia Africa News Agency
Belhassen Chiboub, Director General of Electricity and Energy Transition at the Tunisian Ministry of Industry, confirmed Tunisia’s ability to export between 5.5 and 6 million tons of green hydrogen to Europe by 2050.
Based on figures from the European Hydrogen Backbone initiative, which is a project for a European network for transporting hydrogen through a gas pipeline, the official stated that this amount will constitute Tunisia‘s share of the programmed imports from Europe, especially from Tunisia, Algeria and Libya (11 million tons of green hydrogen).
In the same context, Chiboub stressed that Tunisia possesses all the necessary capabilities to produce green hydrogen at competitive costs in the short and medium term and to position itself as a supplier to Europe.
The country also possesses, according to the same official, “excellent” and “complementary” renewable resources, including solar and wind energy, in addition to its proximity to the center of demand, which is Europe.
In this regard, Chiboub stated that, in order to contribute to the export of this product to Europe, Tunisia plans to establish a network to transport green hydrogen from Gabes and Tataouine towards the tribal homeland.
He pointed out that despite this, the investment costs in developing this technology require significant funds for Tunisia, in addition to the fact that producing one million tons of green hydrogen requires a total investment of about $25 billion, stressing that Tunisia cannot bear these costs alone.
The official also touched on the issue of water shortage in Tunisia, which is a major factor in hydrogen production, stressing that the country relies on establishing several desalination plants in the southern and central regions of the country, including the states of Mahdia and Gabes.
In the same context, Chiboub said that Tunisia is trying today to establish desalination plants with a production capacity of 200,000 cubic meters of water per day, in order to meet the need for drinking water.
He pointed out that a station with a capacity of 200 m3 / day supports the production of 8 million tons of hydrogen annually.