The first green hydrogen plant to be built in Egypt will receive an $80 million loan, according to the development bank EBRD.
According to a statement from the EBRD, the loan was given to Egypt Green, a joint venture between The Sovereign Fund of Egypt and Fertiglobe, one of the largest seaborne exporters of combined urea and ammonia, Scatec, a Norwegian integrated independent power producer, and one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the Middle East and North Africa.
The financing, according to the announcement, will be used to buy and build a 100-megawatt (MW) electrolyzer facility that will run on renewable energy. The plant will deliver up to 15,000 tonnes of green hydrogen yearly once it is fully constructed. This will then be a component in the creation of green ammonia that will be marketed on the Egyptian and global markets.
For the first phase of the project, Egypt Green is “currently testing the first and largest polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer in Africa” near Ain Sokhna.
Ammonia production uses a lot of energy and contributes to 1.8% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to an EBRD statement. Therefore, a significant component of assisting the world in reaching its net zero targets by 2050 is reducing the quantity of CO2 created throughout the manufacturing process.
The statement highlighted that Egypt, the largest ammonia producer in Africa, currently produces its ammonia using natural gas, which results in huge CO2 emissions.
The decarbonization of fertilizer and other difficult-to-abate industries is made possible by the Egypt Green initiative, according to Nandita Parshad, managing director of sustainable infrastructure at the EBRD.
