The Italian energy ministry has announced Tunisia, Algeria, Italy, Germany and Austria have confirmed their support for a pipeline to transport green hydrogen to Europe from North Africa.
The SouthH2 Corridor project is aiming to take hydrogen produced near the northern African coast and ship it across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, before forwarding it on to Austria and Germany. Over 2,000 miles of pipeline will be involved in the project.
The approval contrasts with wider setbacks in the low-carbon hydrogen industry. Oil and lubricant company Shell, for example, recently dropped one such project due to a lack of demand and high costs.
BloombergNEF recently reported that the cost of producing green hydrogen had tripled since its 2023 forecast. This means it won’t achieve price parity with grey hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas, until at least 2050. North Africa, however, has ample solar resources that could make electrolysis more economical.
Nevertheless, the European Commission has recognised the SouthH2 Corridor as a Project of Common Interest (PCI), which means it could fund parts of the infrastructure project. Some 65% of the infrastructure will use existing repurposed pipelines, with the remaining 35% being based on new pipeline segments.
The project has strong support from companies supplying and consuming hydrogen along the corridor, as well as politicians. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani, said the SouthH2 Corridor would bolster Italy’s position as a hub for energy supply in Europe. The project is anticipated to be operating by 2030.
