Opinion: Why Africa’s green hydrogen projects need to start small

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Africa's green hydrogen ambitions have largely centred on gigawatt-scale export projects that struggle with offtake. Instead, renewable energy consultant Prof. Ioannis Tsipouridis advocates starting with smaller, demand-driven projects that can build markets, demonstrate commercial viability and lay the groundwork for scale. 

• Prof.Tsipouridis is a Senior Research Fellow at Kenya-based Strathmore University and a visiting professor at Kisii University. He is also Director of the Renewable Energy & Climate Change Research Center at the Technical University of Mombasa and Project Manager of two Horizon Europe projects at the same institution. 

• “What is needed is a redirection of focus toward smaller, demand-driven green hydrogen applications, thus avoiding the massive infrastructure hurdle, the mesmerising financing requirements and the export needs that are part and parcel of gigawatt-scale projects,” he says.

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