Another step towards a green hydrogen strategy: The National Green Hydrogen Council approved the national strategy for green hydrogen on Wednesday ahead of passing it to the Supreme Council of Energy, according to a cabinet statement.

A strategy that gets buy-in from major national and global developers could unlock 10s of bns of USD worth of new investment in solar and wind energy as well as in the building and running of green hydrogen facilities. The Madbouly government is planning a world-scale green hydrogen program that could also give birth to a domestic industry building components ranging from solar panels to bases for wind mills.

What we know: Under a draft decision approved by the Madbouly cabinet in May, companies that implement green hydrogen projects within five years will receive tax breaks of 33-55% on income and pay no VAT on raw materials, plant and machinery bought for the plants.

Ambitious targets: Egypt wants to provide 5-8% of the world’s hydrogen and reduce annual carbon emissions by 40 mn tons by 2040, according to the statement. The strategy also aims to create 100k jobs and add USD 10-18 bn to GDP by the end of the next decade.

Refresher: The strategy aims to provide a regulatory framework for the local production of green hydrogen and has been in the works since 2021. It’s being formulated by the government with help from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The strategy was set to be unveiled during the COP27 summit in Sharm El Sheikh last November, but has seen multiple delays.

Egypt is going big on green hydrogen: The government signed several framework agreements for green hydrogen projects over the past year, the most recent of which was with China Energy for a USD 6.75 bn plant that will produce 1.2 mn tons of ammonia and 210k tons of hydrogen a year.

ALSO- Egypt exported its first shipment of certified green ammonia: Fertiglobe, a JV between Adnoc and the Sawiris-owned OCI, announced last week it had shipped the world’s first ISCC PLUS-certified (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) green ammonia. The ammonia was produced at the company’s pilot green hydrogen electrolyzer in Egypt and was shipped to India where it will be used by Unilever to produce soda ash.

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