Capacity Building Workshop on Green Hydrogen for ECOWAS Private Sector
The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) is pleased to announce that the Regional Capacity Building Workshop on Green Hydrogen for ECOWAS Private Sector Actors, organised in partnership with WASCAL and supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), will take place on September 19 – 20, 2024 in Lagos, Nigeria.
This workshop aims to enhance the capacity of ECOWAS private sector stakeholders by providing in-depth insights into green hydrogen and green ammonia production, the latest technologies, industry opportunities, and key challenges. Representatives from sectors such as oil and gas, fertilisers, cement, and steel, as well as green hydrogen associations and production companies, are invited to participate.
The Context Of The Workshop
Green hydrogen is recognised as an energy source capable of decarbonising the industrial, transport, agricultural and power sectors. For this reason, it has been the subject of growing interest from the international community in recent years. The global demand for green hydrogen is booming with many countries having specific policies and strategies for the production and massive use of clean hydrogen in the coming decades.
The availability of cheap renewable energy is one of the important parameters for the cost of green hydrogen and ECOWAS renewable energy potential is sufficient for competitive green hydrogen production in the world. It is estimated that in the most optimistic scenario, the region can produce about 35% of the total hydrogen production potential at a cost less than USD 1.5 pern kg of hydrogen over the next few years.
To this end, the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), in collaboration with the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), developed the ECOWAS Green Hydrogen Regional Strategy and Action Plans 2023-2030 and 2031-2050 adopted by ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Energy at their meeting held on October 9, 2023, in Cotonou, Benin.
These are the operationalisation documents of the ECOWAS Green Hydrogen Policy and Strategy Framework adopted by the 90th Ordinary Council Session of ECOWAS Ministers, held in Bissau, Guinea Bissau, on July 6 and 7, 2023. All these documents aim to promote green hydrogen in ECOWAS Member States, to contribute to strengthening regional integration in the sustainable energy sector with strong local content, while opening to other regions in Africa and the world.
These texts provide clear indications in terms of institutional organisation, certification schemes, infrastructure investment, capacity building, research, as well as financing mechanisms. The ECOWAS Green Hydrogen Regional Strategy and Action Plans 2023-2030 and 2031-2050 highlighted knowledge gaps of various stakeholders and the importance of the private sector.
The private sector is set to play a critical role in the transition to green hydrogen, due to the prediction of a doubling of the continent’s energy needs by 2050, mainly due to population growth. Their contribution is crucial for economic development, job creation, skills training and the promotion of a sustainable economy. Considering the need to develop the capacity of the key stakeholders, ECREEE in collaboration with WASCAL has launched a capacity building series.
Objective Of The Workshop And Expected Results
This workshop aims to impart a better understanding of green hydrogen and green ammonia production and technologies, the industry challenges and opportunities, economics, and risks to the ECOWAS private sector working in hydrogen demand sectors. The specific objectives are to:
- Sensitise the private sector actors on Green Hydrogen opportunities.
- Share with the private sector the state of art on technologies and end uses.
- Assess Green Hydrogen project development.
This capacity building session will include sessions about technology and applications, coupling with renewables, and economics.
The expected results of the workshop are as follows:
- ECOWAS Private sector Actors are sensitised to Green Hydrogen challenges.
- Green Hydrogen business opportunities are presented to the private sector actors.
- Local end uses opportunities of green are presented and discussed with the private sector actors.
