Mauritania aims to lead Africa in green hydrogen with top-tier resources

In an exclusive interview with Energy Connects ahead of Global African Hydrogen Summit 2025, Taghiya Abeiderahmane, Director of Low Carbon Hydrogen, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, discusses how the West African nation has enacted pioneering legislation and secured major international partnerships to become the continent’s most competitive hydrogen producer.

• What makes Mauritania uniquely positioned to play a leading role in this emerging green hydrogen sector?

Mauritania was put on the global map for green hydrogen (GH2) by several renowned international agencies recognising its significant potential. Most recently, H2Atlas-Africa ranked Mauritania first among 38 African countries in terms of green hydrogen cost and production potential, confirming its position as Africa’s most competitive GH2 producer.

This strong comparative advantage stems from Mauritania’s exceptional solar and wind resources, vast, sparsely populated land, and access to the Atlantic Ocean, providing a stable water supply essential for electrolysis. Importantly, the unique complementarity between solar and wind energy enables stable and cost-effective green electricity generation. These favourable conditions support a scalable and low-cost green hydrogen production. By allocating 5% of our coast to green hydrogen production we have the potential to produce 12 million tonnes of hydrogen per annum at very competitive price.

Our geographic location is also a key asset. Mauritania lies close to Europe and is well-connected to major global markets—including Asia and other emerging hydrogen hubs—offering a clear advantage for the export of green hydrogen and its derivatives.

• What is the government’s vision for Mauritania’s energy future, and how will green hydrogen play a transformative role?

Looking ahead, Mauritania’s energy future is anchored in three core strategic priorities: achieving universal access to affordable, reliable energy by 2030—with at least 50% from renewables—driving industrial growth in key sectors like mining and positioning the country as a regional and global energy hub.

Green hydrogen is central to this vision. While natural gas will meet short-term needs, hydrogen offers a transformative path forward. It will help decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors, unlock export revenues, drive local industrial development, and generate skilled employment for young Mauritanians.

One of the most exciting opportunities is green steel. With a well-developed mining infrastructure, Mauritania currently exports over 14 million tonnes of iron ore annually and aims to triple this by 2030. By combining its low-carbon hydrogen and abundant iron ore, the country can produce Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) locally, moving up the value chain and positioning itself in the global low-carbon economy.

• How is Mauritania’s Green Hydrogen Code positioning the country as a first mover in Africa’s clean energy transition?

The Green Hydrogen Code marks Mauritania’s commitment to building a robust, future-ready green hydrogen sector and positions the country as a potential model for Africa in creating investment-ready frameworks for green technologies.

The Code provides the clarity, stability, and long-term vision needed to attract large-scale investment. By establishing a transparent, predictable, and enabling framework, it aims to create the necessary conditions for international partners to invest with confidence and for projects to move from concept to implementation.

We are already putting this into practice through the negotiation of Global Conventions for two of the most ambitious hydrogen projects on the continent—AMAN and NOUR. These projects are designed to serve both export markets and domestic value chains, including green steel.

• What are the main challenges Mauritania must overcome to realise its green hydrogen ambitions, and what’s being done to address them?

Realising Mauritania’s green hydrogen ambitions requires addressing key challenges, including infrastructure gaps, regulatory uncertainty, and limited human capital. The government has adopted a strategic, phased approach.

In 2022, it launched the National Low Carbon Hydrogen Roadmap, outlining a clear vision, phased development, institutional coordination, and support for international cooperation and local content. This was followed by key legal reforms: the Electricity Code was revised to support grid expansion, renewable integration, and private sector participation, while the Investment Code was modernised to improve transparency, streamline processes, and protect investors.

On infrastructure, with the World Bank a comprehensive study of Mauritania’s infrastructure gaps for hosting 80GW of GH2 projects was conducted and finalised in 2024. This study has been instrumental in identifying key areas for development, and the EU is playing a critical role in supporting the recommendations.

Mauritania is committed to building a sustainable and inclusive hydrogen ecosystem, rooted in long-term partnerships and anchored in local capacity.