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Green hydrogen is crucial for society's access to peaceful, secure, and stable energy sources to flourish sustainably and get universal government support. To protect the environment and provide energy security, it is essential to use hydrogen as a sustainable fuel and energy source to cover the energy baseload. This paper investigates the developments of renewable energy (RE) and the potential for green hydrogen in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. There is a considerable chance to use RE because of the MENA region's excellent solar radiation. On the other hand, many countries in the MENA region are classified as one of the poorest in water resources and are known to have water-energy challenges. This paper focuses on the water needed to produce hydrogen in countries with water scarcity. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was performed for green hydrogen generation in the MENA, where recommendations for countries with a water-energy nexus can be made. Additionally, this paper offers suggestions for creating a sustainable hydrogen economy, such as cutting back on the domestic use of fossil fuels, subsidizing the renewable production industry, and supporting hydrogen manufacturing. • Green hydrogen production is highly affected by water scarcity. • SWOT analysis was performed on green hydrogen generation in the MENA. • Recommendations were provided on a country-by-country basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a comprehensive review on the status of renewable energy developments and hydrogen economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. This region is heavily reliant on fossil fuels for its domestic energy supply and is also considered a global energy exporter. In this regard, an overview of the current state of energy sector in the region is provided. Moreover, the region possesses great potential for renewable energy exploitation due to its climatic advantages. Therefore, the current status of renewable energy utilization within the region's various countries is reviewed by presenting several operational renewable energy-based plants and future projects for deployment of renewable power in the region. Green hydrogen is an important sustainable clean fuel, and its utilization is essential for both environmental preservation and energy security. Thus, the status of hydrogen production and utilization in the region is discussed considering the various operational systems and future hydrogen generation projects. The concept of source, system and service is also incorporated which considers the utilization of clean energy sources for sustainable hydrogen production through environmentally benign pathways. The potential deployment opportunities for the renewable hydrogen production are also discussed based on available renewable sources in the region. Moreover, this paper discusses the challenges of increasing renewable energy utilization in the region. Furthermore, this paper provides a road map for achieving renewable hydrogen economy including a reduction in domestic utilization of oil and gas sources, subsidization of renewable production sector, and financial support to hydrogen production and transportation infrastructure. • Providing an overview of the status of energy sector in the region. • Providing an overview of the status of renewable energy utilization in the region. • Discussing the challenges and opportunities of renewable and hydrogen energy development in the region. • Providing a road map for renewable hydrogen development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Renewable energy can be transported by mixing hydrogen into natural gas pipelines. • Current pipelines limit hydrogen supply from North Africa to 9.5–23.2 TWh/a. • North Africa can supply renewable hydrogen to Europe for min. 54–119 €/MWh in 2020. Abstract Strong efforts are necessary to stem climate change. It requires to switch to renewable fuels. But as energy demand in Central Europe is high, renewable energy resources are of moderate quality, and available potentials are limited, energy imports from areas with beneficial renewable resources – such as North Africa – might be a promising option. Against this background this paper investigates the costs and potentials for hydrogen produced on the basis of electricity from wind and solar energy in North Africa and the subsequent transport as a blend with natural gas in existing pipelines. Linear optimization using hourly wind and solar data yields minimum hydrogen production cost. 2419 locations covering a 2° proximity of the existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure are considered in a lower and higher cost case for a near-term future (ca. 2020). Modell results provide lowest hydrogen production cost of 45 resp. 99 €/MWh. The production potential is in the range of PWh/a and therefore exceeds the hydrogen that can be transported in the existing infrastructure: Operating pipelines are potentially able to carry 10 vol% hydrogen in the natural gas feed with negligible adjustments to the infrastructure so that 9.5–23.2 TWh/a of hydrogen can be transported to Europe at minimum transport costs of 9 resp. 19 €/MWh. As these transport costs are low, supplying hydrogen leads to lower cost than transforming it to methane, Diesel or gasoline and is therefore the cheapest form of supplying a power based fuel. The hydrogen costs sum up to supply costs of 54 resp. 119 €/MWh free Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]