Is Mauritania leading West Africa's green energy transition?

As Mauritania leads in west Africa’s green energy transition, significant investment is being made in hydrogen, solar and wind energy developments.

Who owns Mauritania's electricity plant?

Completed in 2017, the $53 million plant is run by the national electricity company, Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité (Somelec), and has seen ongoing works since its inauguration by (then) President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, removing an estimated 57,000 tonnes of CO 2 per annum and supplying 10% of Mauritania’s net energy production.

Does Mauritania have a pipeline of renewable hydrogen projects?

Mauritania currently has the largest pipeline of renewable hydrogen projects to 2030 in sub-Saharan Africa. However, successfully implementing these projects is conditional on attracting sufficient investment, which in turn depends on reducing risk by securing demand from foreign offtakers.

Can Mauritania generate low-cost electricity and hydrogen through electrolysis?

Renewable Energy Opportunities for Mauritania finds that the country could deploy these resources at scale to generate low-cost renewable electricity and hydrogen through electrolysis.

Does Mauritania have solar?

TOUJOUNINE – Solar Averaging seven days of rain a year, Mauritania’s climate is ideal for solar and the country’s first major development in the sector did not disappoint in this regard with 54,000 panels supporting 50 MW production capacity at Toujounine, on the northern outskirts of the nation’s capital.

Can Mauritania export hydrogen?

The report outlines three possible pathways for Mauritania to export renewable hydrogen: shipping hydrogen to global markets in the form of ammonia; coupling existing iron ore mining with renewable hydrogen to produce higher-value direct reduced iron for export; and transporting hydrogen to Europe through a pipeline connecting Mauritania to Spain.