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ECREEE Praia, Cape Verde 4th April 2022 – The ECOWAS Centre for renewable Energy and Energy efficiency (ECREEE) is set to conduct a kick-off meeting on the development of the ECOWAS Green Hydrogen Policy from the 7th to 8th April in the Senegalese Capital, Dakar. The forum seeks to create the roadmap for the development of an ECOWAS Green Hydrogen Policy. The Policy document will be the first step towards aligning the regional and national government’s policies, legislative procedures and guidelines in a systematic approach for fostering greater public and private sector participation in the coming green hydrogen economy.
The exploitation of Green Hydrogen as an energy resource in the African region is still in its embryonic stage. Africa has a growing population of nearly 1.3 billion, which has been increasing at an average annual rate of 2.5% for the last 10 years. The growing population directly implies growing demand for energy and expanded infrastructure to match the growth. Moreover, the challenges of exploiting its rich renewable energy resources still requires joint effort and partnerships to find feasible climate-friendly solutions across borders.
It was against this backdrop that the government of Germany through the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is collaborating with West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) to explore the potentials of green hydrogen production from the enormous renewable energy sources within the African continent. The aim is to support sustainable and economic development in Africa through a viable hydrogen economy.
ECREEE is also partnering with WASCAL to explore the potentials of green hydrogen production from the enormous renewable energy sources within the West African region.
Green Hydrogen as fuel for the future has gained global interest in recent years. To successfully implement Green Hydrogen-enabled technologies and incorporate it within the energy mix of any country, enabling conditions in terms of policies, legal and regulatory frameworks and resource mobilisation, as well as local and foreign private sector investment are essential requirements. The Dakar Forum will discuss the significance of regional energy policy approaches, as well as development of hydrogen policies, strategies and highlight experiences from other regions and latest developments from other regions in the development of a green hydrogen sector. The workshop will also reflect on the potentials of renewable energy for green hydrogen development in the ECOWAS Region and the scope of work for the development of the ECOWAS Green Hydrogen policy.
Currently, no ECOWAS member state has started defining national policies and strategies to promote the dissemination of Green Hydrogen technologies and services. The kick off meeting on will thus consider the methodology for the development of the ECOWAS Green Hydrogen Policy and consider member states’ intervention vis-a- vis lessons learnt on regional policies relative to national objectives.
It is anticipated that the development of green hydrogen policies would increase the penetration of green hydrogen uptake by also promoting incentive schemes for the private sector both for sustainable production and local use of green hydrogen, thereby increasing the overall impact of the policy implementation.