Document prepared by the consulting firm AFRY Management Consulting France
Executive Summary
Why is Hydrogen Important?
The energy transition is changing the way the world functions. New technologies, such as wind and photovoltaic solar energy, will allow for the production of electricity without CO2 emissions. The energy transition also requires the adoption of renewable heat, fuels, and raw materials to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement, limiting global warming to less than 2°C. Hydrogen could be the missing link in this regard, converting renewable electricity into a low-carbon gas, thus paving the way for decarbonization across all sectors of the economy. The production of blue hydrogen would also enable the use of natural gas without CO2 emissions, through CO2 capture, transport, and storage.
The adoption of these new technologies will change how current energy users consume energy. New industries could emerge, taking advantage of hydrogen’s potential to produce goods more sustainably, enable renewable electricity storage, and provide low-emission transport options. Hydrogen will also redefine the economic opportunities of countries. Countries with abundant natural resources such as wind, solar, and natural gas can convert them into hydrogen gas or other hydrogen derivatives that are transportable and valuable worldwide. These products can act as a catalyst for economic development and progress.
What is the Scope of the Study?
This study explores the opportunities related to the development of hydrogen production for Mauritania and presents the levers for seizing these opportunities. The study first provides an overview of the global hydrogen context. It then quantifies Mauritania's potential for hydrogen production and evaluates the economic opportunities of hydrogen production, both for export and domestic use. The result is an objective for Mauritania to capture up to 1.5% of the global hydrogen market and up to 1% of the global green steel market by 2050. The study assesses the required infrastructure for the hydrogen economy and the need for skills and workforce, for which it also proposes a training structure. Additionally, the study provides recommendations for the legal and contractual framework and a governance framework for the Government. All these elements are integrated into a roadmap defining actions and measures for the Government and other sector actors.
How Was the Study Conducted?
The study was developed in two stages. In the first stage, the market was analyzed, and key opportunities for Mauritania were selected. In the second stage, the roadmap was developed, including an assessment of the implications for governance, the legal framework, and education. The study is based on a literature review, energy system modeling, energy costs, industrial processes, discussions with industry experts in Mauritania and abroad. Weekly meetings with the technical monitoring committee were an essential element in the study's development. These meetings ensured that issues were continuously addressed correctly and confirmed that the local context and conditions in Mauritania were taken into account.
What is the Hydrogen Production Potential in Mauritania?
Due to its geographical location, Mauritania has significant solar and wind resources, enabling low-cost renewable electricity production. Electrolysis will then enable the production of green hydrogen. Additionally, recent natural gas discoveries have expanded the range of available energy resources. Using methane reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) or methane pyrolysis would allow for hydrogen production from natural gas with a low carbon footprint.
Mauritania’s total hydrogen production potential is 20.1 million tons per year. By dedicating only 5% of its coastal regions to wind and solar production, Mauritania could produce 12 Mt of green hydrogen. Additionally, 8.1 Mt of H2 could be produced from natural gas through SMR and CCS, when storage capacity is sufficient. Alternatively, methane pyrolysis technology could provide half of this production, or 4 MtH2.
What are Mauritania’s Strengths for the Hydrogen Sector?
Mauritania has significant renewable energy potential, abundant surface area for assets, a strategic geographical location ensuring proximity to international markets, an existing local market for hydrogen and its derivatives, and an attractive investment climate (regulation, contractual).
What are the Benefits of Hydrogen Projects for Mauritania’s Local Economy?
A hydrogen project is not an isolated project, but the project and the necessary infrastructure (described below) bring three contributions to the local economy:
- First, renewable electricity production assets will be built. Not all electricity will be used for hydrogen production, and some of it can be used by local industries and other consumers.
- Second, water infrastructure, including desalination and transport, will also meet the demand of local users, industry, mines, and households.
- Third, the hydrogen produced will enable economic development in the country, as it is a raw material and an energy source for the local industry and would also be an export product.
Specifically, low-carbon hydrogen production will be critical in creating a green steel industry in Mauritania; the local content and tax revenues from this sector could significantly contribute to the national economy.
What are the Investment Opportunities in the Hydrogen Sector?
Hydrogen production will be the basis for numerous investment opportunities in Mauritania, benefiting from the new electricity, water, and hydrogen infrastructure. Twenty investment opportunities have been identified, based on four “source molecules”: hydrogen, oxygen, caustic soda, and chlorine. These investment opportunities have been evaluated based on six criteria. These criteria include economic attractiveness, environmental compliance, required skills, societal contribution, technology maturity, and supply chain complexity.
Three opportunities would be prioritized in the short term:
- Ammonia production for export / liquid hydrogen production for export
- Production of ammonium nitrate for local demand and export
Four opportunities would be prioritized in the medium term:
- Methanol production for export and e-fuel
- Green steel production
- Use of hydrogen for mining equipment (machinery and trains)
- Fertilizer production for local demand and export
Two other opportunities could be considered in the long term:
- Hydrogen production for small-scale use (mobility, buildings, etc.)
- Hydrogen production for electricity generation
What is Mauritania’s Hydrogen Ambition?
Mauritania’s hydrogen ambition was developed through an analytical approach: production targets were calculated by identifying achievable market shares for each product, primarily based on the number of international competitors. From these market shares, final product production targets were established, and the necessary hydrogen, electricity, and water volumes were calculated and summed.
Based on a targeted market share in the global market, large regional import needs, the presence of competition, the size of production facilities, and domestic demand conditions, the objectives for the final products were set, and the required renewable energy production and desalinated water were determined. These are presented in Figure 1.
Will Mauritania’s Hydrogen Be Competitive?
Mauritania is indeed well-positioned to supply the European and North American markets with low-carbon hydrogen, which would represent 29% of the demand in 2050, as well as other emerging markets (mainly in Africa and Latin America).
The cost of producing low-carbon hydrogen in Mauritania would be among the lowest in the world, thanks to the abundance and quality of local renewable wind and solar resources. The cost of delivering Mauritanian hydrogen to Europe would be at most equal to local production costs. However, with the hydrogen volumes required to decarbonize the European economy, hydrogen importation will be necessary. The EU plans to have 40 GW of electrolysis capacity outside the EU by 2030 to meet its needs.
What Infrastructure Will Be Necessary for Hydrogen Projects?
New infrastructure will need to be built to enable hydrogen production and for hydrogen-derived products. Additionally, electricity and water infrastructure must be built or expanded so that society as a whole can benefit from the opportunities offered by hydrogen.
Based on a complete value chain assessment for each investment opportunity, the required infrastructure for each opportunity was listed step by step. A summary is provided in the figure below.
This figure shows two possible hubs for green hydrogen production and derivatives and one hub for blue hydrogen. Although shared infrastructure could be beneficial, and a single center would be preferable, the number of hubs would also depend on the ambitions of hydrogen project developers, so multiple hubs cannot be excluded.
For derivatives, the source of hydrogen, whether blue or green, does not create a difference in the required infrastructure. Of course, for blue hydrogen, as with green hydrogen, a pipeline would link the hydrogen production center to the demand center.
What Shared Infrastructures Could Be Implemented?
Investment opportunities in hydrogen would require certain shared infrastructures. For example, port infrastructure would benefit both the transport of ammonia or liquid hydrogen and green steel. Strengthening port infrastructure would also benefit other industries in Mauritania, such as the mining industry.
Likewise, strengthening railway infrastructure would benefit the transport of green steel and other mining products. Trains could be converted to hydrogen use.
Finally, the electrical grid, water transport infrastructure, and hydrogen transport infrastructure could be shared, benefiting multiple hydrogen project developers and the general public.
What Skills are Needed for the Hydrogen Sector?
Based on the ambitions of investment opportunities in hydrogen and the required infrastructure, a list of skills required to install, operate, and maintain assets, finance, regulate, and manage the hydrogen sector has been established. The required skills are related to the value chain activities for each hydrogen investment opportunity. According to an initial estimate, achieving the above objectives would require creating approximately:
- 280,000 jobs for the construction and commissioning of infrastructure and production facilities
- 100,000 jobs for the operation and maintenance of these industrial facilities
Additionally, the Government must develop other skills to launch the hydrogen sector:
- Sign international partnerships for skills transfer and training (scholarships, exchanges, professional training, etc.), and for technology transfer
- Recruit expert teachers in hydrogen’s industrial applications
- Quickly train the necessary personnel for project development and the operation of new facilities
What Actions Are Necessary to Develop an Efficient Hydrogen Sector?
To develop the hydrogen industry, a joint effort from the Government, its ministries, other governmental organizations, research and education institutes, and industry developers will be needed. The Government will have a role as an initiator and coordinator. The roadmap describes the necessary actions for developing the hydrogen sector. All of these actions will then guide project construction, ensuring the transfer of hydrogen and derivative skills and technologies to Mauritania’s socio-economic fabric.
The low-carbon hydrogen roadmap defines ambitious yet realistic industrial goals for Mauritania in this new sector. The prerequisites for achieving them—legal and contractual, infrastructure, skills, and organizational—have been identified, and recommendations have been made.
The hydrogen sector action plan has been defined, with a list of 77 short, medium, and long-term measures to achieve the industrial goals. The structure to be set up and the indicators to track the achievement of these measures have been defined.
This roadmap will contribute to the establishment of Mauritania's hydrogen economy and will help achieve national and international sustainable development goals.
Eleven Key Themes Identified for the Action Plan:
- Governance
- Training
- Contracts, Legislation, and Standards
- International Agreements
- Renewable Electricity
- Desalinated Water
- Hydrogen and Ammonia
- Methanol and E-fuels
- Green Steel
- Ammonium Nitrate
- Cross-cutting Infrastructure
Each of these areas will be addressed in the following sub-questions.
What Governance Structure Would Be Suitable?
The required governance structure within government institutes will resemble those currently in place for hydrocarbons and water:
- The Hydrogen Directorate: integrated within the MPME, this new directorate would be responsible for strategic, political, legal, contractual, and diplomatic aspects of the hydrogen sector
- The Hydrogen Agency: affiliated with the MPME, this new state operator would mainly handle operational aspects (monitoring project execution, managing feasibility studies, etc.)
- The Hydrogen Company: affiliated with the MPME, this new state operator would primarily handle financial aspects (managing state participation in hydrogen projects)
These institutions result from applying certain guiding organizational principles:
- Separate policy development from implementation, operations, and financing activities
- Avoid duplication in public administration and within state operators
- Minimize the number of intermediaries in decision-making
- Maximize the use of existing skills and institutions
- Clarify and simplify hydrogen institutions for both foreign and domestic stakeholders
The actions outlined in the roadmap reflect the establishment of these entities, the precise definition of their strategies, tasks, activities, and responsibilities. For example, a tender process must be established and executed, hydrogen-related activities in the country must be monitored, and investments in this field must be encouraged.
What Skills Are Needed for the Hydrogen Sector?
Training is necessary to ensure a skilled workforce at all levels. Thus, both higher education and professional training programs are required.
- Higher education by creating Hydrogen Departments dedicated to R&D, technological monitoring, and teaching within Mauritanian schools and universities or through exchanges with foreign universities, which would train a moderately to highly qualified workforce (engineers with Bac+5, technicians with Bac+3)
- Professional training by establishing programs specifically dedicated to hydrogen jobs within existing professional training centers in Mauritania or with developers and industrialists.
The roadmap’s actions aim to establish these departments and programs, develop training content that includes safety aspects in hydrogen, and recruit personnel.
What Is Needed to Have an Adequate Contractual and Normative Framework?
Private developers will carry out investments in hydrogen infrastructure. Their activities will fall under:
- The legal framework for industrial and commercial activities, with the need for strict regulatory control over industrial risks related to hydrogen production and transportation, as well as derivative products;
- The legal and regulatory framework for public service activities, such as electricity and water production and supply;
- The legal framework for the use of public or private land by the State, such as state-owned land or maritime public domain.
The applicable legal, regulatory, and contractual framework must ensure coherence across these components to provide investors with legal security and sufficient attractiveness for projects of this magnitude while protecting the State’s interests.
The detailed actions of the roadmap concern updating the electricity code, adhering to international HSE standards, and implementing standard contracts for electricity and water sales, as well as hydrogen project developers, and setting up a cadastre.
In particular, the new hydrogen industry must be regulated to ensure that public, industrial, and societal interests are well accounted for. Since hydrogen also involves existing activities in electricity and water, and is not an isolated new activity, the rules and codes should be close and comparable to those covering existing sectors.
In the Electricity Code, we propose two actions: first, to mention licenses to be granted to self-producers as exceptions to licenses through tenders, and second, to define the amounts of fees calculated on the revenues from surplus electricity supply.
A HSE regulation is already in place. To ensure the existing HSE regulations are also well adapted to hydrogen, we propose three actions: first, identifying the normative systems related to the safety of establishments involved in hydrogen production and transport; second, strengthening industrial safety governance by redefining objectives, tasks, and activities related to industrial risk management in Mauritania; and third, drafting and promulgating the decree defining the classification procedure for ICPEs.
Standard contracts for the hydrogen industry should be implemented. A type of contract between the Government and hydrogen developers must be defined. A contract template for electricity sales to the electricity company, SOMELEC, should be established, as well as one for water with the water company, SNDE.
Certain changes in authorizations will also be necessary, including defining a standard emphyteutic lease for hydrogen developers and reforming the authorization for occupying the maritime public domain. In particular, some assurances should be given to the investor regarding the renewal of the occupation authorization to match the duration of land occupation for the construction of other project facilities and, if needed, the desalination plant.
To optimally support the emerging industry and identify favorable sites for renewable energy production, land planning is necessary. An essential prerequisite is mapping the land that could be designated for the hydrogen project and its derivatives, ensuring that land for future production, transportation, and export facilities will be available in time.
To promote a favorable investment climate in Mauritania, we propose clearly communicating the legal reform and administrative simplification to potential financial and operational partners in the hydrogen sector.
To view the full document, click here: 202204 Feuille de route hydrogène vert_Mauritanie_final_v10 (1).pdf