Egypt and Norway have launched the first phase of a project to establish a major green hydrogen plant in Egypt’s Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea, with a capacity to produce 100MW.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt and the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, at the project launch on Tuesday, said the launching was part of the 2022 UN Climate Conference of Parties (COP27) holding in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

This event took part on the final day of the Climate Implementation Summit, with more than 100 heads of state and government gathering on the opening days of the conference to work towards implementing existing climate agreements.

Mr El-Sisi hailed the project, which will be implemented with the Norwegian energy giant Scatec.

The Egyptian president said it provided “a practical investment partnership model that stimulates sustainable economic development with a focus on the role of the national and foreign private sector besides the government’s role, working side by side in this fruitful sector.”

Scatec has been a major developer at Egypt’s massive Benban solar park in Upper Egypt’s Aswan, one of the largest solar parks worldwide, with a total capacity of 1.8GW.

The Green Hydrogen Plant is part of Egypt’s wider green hydrogen strategy, which aims to produce green hydrogen at the lowest price worldwide.

The strategy, implemented in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Arab Union for Sustainable Development and Environment, seeks to help Egypt contribute to eight per cent of the global hydrogen market, Egypt’s cabinet said in a statement on Saturday.

“Green hydrogen has become one of the most important solutions on the way toward a green economy during the coming years. It is an example where developing countries, including Egypt, are taking great steps,” said Mr El-Sisi. “However, we still have to face challenges resulting from the tendency of some countries to back local green hydrogen in a way that decreases their production cost.”

The Egyptian leader added that “this causes (an) imbalance in the global hydrogen market and contributes to undermining the competitiveness of the green hydrogen produced in developing countries compared to the developed countries.” 

(NAN)