Summary:

On Monday, 27 May 2024, Tunisia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with French energy firm TotalEnergies and the Austrian firm Verbund which outlines plans to explore the development of various green hydrogen projects. 

The MOU outlines the production of 200,000 tons of green hydrogen and 5 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 with plans for production capacity to eventually reach 1 million tons per year. 

With a total of €48 billion in investments, the project marks another step toward Tunisia achieving its National Energy Strategy, including goals of exporting 6 million tons of green hydrogen by 2050 and creating 430,000 job opportunities. 

The MOU marks progress for TotalEnergies and Verbund toward implementing the REPowerEU plan which outlines the EU’s shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies. 

Outlook: 

The hydrogen deal reflects Tunisia’s generally strong posture to attract investments in the energy sector that could boost recovery from the ongoing economic crisis and reduce its dependence on Algerian energy.  

Simultaneously, European companies continue to give a high priority to Tunisia in their plans to import clean energy and find alternative supplies to the Russian fossil fuels. 

Similar projects are taking place in Morrocco, Algeria, and Egypt but Tunisia remains the closest eventual exporter to the heart of Europe. However, Tunisia must deal with popular concerns over these projects, as many activists and researchers think of them as a new kind of colonialism that will benefit Europe while exporting value from Tunisia.  

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