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The saturation of Africa’s larger electricity grids by wind power projects will lead to grid stability problems and confirm the need to adopt a better suited, more integrated technological approach to wind developments. Because this region is located on the edge of one of the largest electricity grids (that of the EU), its large renewable energy potential could be used to produce significant amounts of cheap wind energy that could ultimately end up supplying larger electricity markets. This however, will require an effect of scale. Developing initial mechanisms to progressively firm these intermittent energy sources locally is an imperative first step as this lies on the critical path of major alternative, sustainable energy developments.
Besides the large scale transfer of electricity utilizing High Voltage Direct Current technologies as envisioned by the Sahara Wind Project, local mechanisms for accessing renewables energies could enable the emergence of a hydrogen economy, that would be clean and integrated to local industries. Indeed, over 80% of the world’s hydrogen production is currently accessed through fossil fuels, emitting 6 tons of CO2 per ton of hydrogen in the process. The production of hydrogen through wind-electrolysis integrated to the processing of local mineral deposits is carbon free, as these systems supporting existing economies can be duplicated over a very large scale in Morocco and Mauritania’s trade wind regions. In generating both electricity and hydrogen at competitive costs and without CO2 emissions, significant environmental security concerns can be addressed. The stabilization of electricity grids through wind-electrolysis may be an essential component for accessing wind electricity, as it provides additional flexibility to energy inputs enhancing thereby the functioning of the region’s weaker electricity grids. These technologies are currently being tested within ‘green campus concepts’ deployed regionally within the partnering Universities of the ‘Sahara Trade Winds to Hydrogen Project ’. It may be sensible to mention that current wind-electrolysis stabilization and hydrogen energy solutions are modular enabling the integration of wind electricity at higher penetration rates through small, medium and large scale industrial applications. The later represent the most promising route for accessing renewables and sustainable development objectives, as they would facilitate a cleaner value added processing of natural resources derived through industrial synergies. The development of a wind industry to service the energy needs of industrial processes could, thanks to the availability of local resources, be replicated on a very large scale on the trade windblown coastline of the Sahara Desert. The availability of renewable hydrogen generated as a by-product from industrial processes, is likely to reinforce the local integration of this resource, which remains one of the key objectives of the Sahara Wind Project. 
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