Project HyAfrica (Towards a next-generation renewable energy source – a natural hydrogen solution for power supply in Africa), coordinated by CONVERGE!, was approved for funding in the first call of the Long-Term Joint European Union – African Union Research and Innovation Partnership on Renewable Energy (LEAP-RE).
HyAfrica promotes the exploration and exploitation of hydrogen that occurs naturally in some geological environments. This natural hydrogen (also called white hydrogen) is a primary and clean energy source, continuously replenished by geochemical reactions in deep geological formations. HyAfrica aims to map the resources of natural hydrogen in promising regions of Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa and Togo and to evaluate its social-economic impact. Moreover, the project will allow regional and national authorities to develop roadmaps and action plans to pursue strategies for exploiting this natural energy source.
The project is due to start in the first half of 2022 and will run for three years.Led by Converge!, the HyAfrica consortium consists of two German research institutions (Fraunhofer IEE and LIAG), University Mohammed Premier in Morocco, University of Lomé in Togo, Universities of Limpopo and Pretoria in South Africa, and the University Eduardo Mondlane and the National Directorate of Geology and Mines in Mozambique.
