India's ReNew Power to take on Egyptian H2 project

Indian renewable energy producer ReNew Power is planning to build a 220,000 t/yr renewable hydrogen plant in Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone, adding to a long list of planned projects in the area.

ReNew Power has signed an initial agreement with the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) and intends to invest close to $8bn over two phases. The initial phase is expected for 2023-25, with investment of $710mn into establishing production capacity for 20,000 t/yr of renewable hydrogen and 100,000 t/yr of ammonia. A second phase will lift overall output capacity to 220,000 t/yr of hydrogen and 1.1mn t/yr of ammonia. This is expected for 2025-29, with investments of more than $7bn.

SCZONE said it has signed eight MoUs "in the field of localising and manufacturing green fuels". Some of these are targeting even higher production than ReNew Power's planned project. French renewables project developer Total Eren and Egyptian investment firm Enara Capital are looking to produce 1.5mn t/yr of renewable ammonia by 2030, while Abu Dhabi state-owned Masdar and domestic engineering firm Hassan Allam Holding plan to produce up to 480,000 t/yr of renewable hydrogen by 2030 in the Suez Canal Economic Zone and on Egypt's Mediterranean coast.

Other firms that have reached agreements on potential hydrogen or ammonia production include the UAE's AMEA Power and Danish shipping company Maersk.

The IEA said last month that Egypt could be among the African countries with the lowest renewable hydrogen production costs, helped by ample solar and wind power generation capacity.

By Stefan Krümpelmann