The French company HDF Energy is involved in a major green hydrogen production project in Tunisia. With an initial investment of around €3 billion, it will serve both the European market and domestic needs.

HDF Energy has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tunisia’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, Fatma Thabet Chiboub. The agreement was signed on 29 July in the presence of the Secretary of State for Energy Transition, Ouael Chouchène; the President of UTICA, Samir Majoul; and the Head of the Regional Economic Department of the French Embassy, Arnaud Guigné.

The agreement provides for the development of an initial large-scale green hydrogen project with a potential capacity of 1 GW of wind energy, 500 MW of photovoltaic energy and 800 MW of electrolysers that can produce up to 65,000 tonnes of hydrogen. Most of the green hydrogen produced will be exported to Europe via the SoutH2 corridor, a hydrogen pipeline initiative led by European transmission system operators (TSOs). 

Tunisia has strong ambitions

“The signing of this memorandum of understanding consolidates HDF Energy’s status as a leading global expert in the green hydrogen sector,” comments Gilles Bouder, the company’s Director for the EMEA region. Tunisia has signed other agreements with the holding company of the British and Maltese group TUNUR, the Norwegian company AKER Horizons, the Austrian group Verbund, the British company Savannah Energy, the French company Amarenco, the Jordanian company H2 Global, the Belgian company DEME Energy and the German company Abo Energy.

This partnership is part of Tunisia’s national strategy to become a leader in the production of green hydrogen, taking advantage of the country’s abundant solar and wind energy resources. “Tunisia is positioning itself to produce 8.3 million tonnes of green hydrogen and its derivatives by 2050, including 2.3 million tonnes for the local market and 6 million tonnes for export, with total investment estimated at around 120 billion euros”, says the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

Do you want to find out more about Tunisia? Then our latest article on the country should interest you. You can read it here.

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King