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EU and intergovernmental support for the 3,200-kilometre SoutH2 corridor linking Tunisia and Central Europe provides certainty and comfort on the demand and offtake side for the recently announced green hydrogen projects in the North African country.

“The recognition and support of the EU to the SoutH2 corridor, alongside intergovernmental support, provide substantial certainty and comfort on the demand and offtake side, enabling us to proceed with advanced project development activities,” Thomas Brostrom, chief business development and investment officer at Saudi utility developer Acwa Power, tells MEED.

Acwa Power and a consortium led by France’s TotalEnergies separately announced multi-phase green hydrogen projects in Tunisia in May and June this year.

The projects aim to export green hydrogen via the planned SoutH2 corridor, a hydrogen pipeline project connecting North Africa to Italy, Austria and Germany, which is expected to be commissioned around 2030.

The Acwa Power project expects to reach a financial investment decision (FID) within two to three years, with the first phase scheduled to start operations by 2031.

The other team, comprising TE H2 – a joint venture of TotalEnergies and Luxembourg’s Eren Group – and Austria’s Verbund, aims to reach FID between 2027 and 2028.

The initial phases of the two projects aim to produce roughly 200,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of green hydrogen. Both teams say they plan to scale up their facilities’ production capacity to up to 1 million t/y in their final phases.

Acwa Power’s “strong track record on green hydrogen projects globally and the strong governmental relationships between Saudi Arabia and Tunisia are an upside for our project”, says Brostrom, who adds that his firm is open to considering partners who can add value to the project.

“The corridor partners recognise and target Tunisia as an ideal location for renewable hydrogen production. The SoutH2 corridor has been awarded Project of Common Interest status on 28 November 2023 by the EU,” the executive explains.

“This status recognises the project’s potential to contribute to Europe’s green transition and facilitates access to funding, regulatory support and streamlined permitting processes, accelerating the project’s development and implementation.”

Major European transmission system operators (TSO) such as Italy’s Snam, Trans Austria Gasleitung (TAG), Gas Connect Austria and Germany’s Bayernets lead the SoutH2 corridor project.

The pipeline has a hydrogen import capacity of 4 million t/y, which means it can potentially supply 40% of the EU bloc’s diversified import target under its REpowerEU programme.