Applying the open-source Climate, Land, Energy, and Water system (CLEWs) Framework to Egypt: Assessment of Green Hydrogen Strategy Resilience to Water Scarcity

This study explores Egypt's potential to meet ambitious green hydrogen export targets amid wa-ter scarcity using the climate, land, energy, and water systems (CLEWs) framework. Eight sce-narios, including baseline and variations of Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy 2035 (ISES2035) scenarios, examine renewable energy deployment, hydrogen production, and water demands. Results indicate that large-scale hydrogen production requires a 160% increase in renewable en-ergy by 2050 under ambitious scenarios, primarily sourced from solar, wind, and nuclear energy. However, water needs for large-scale hydrogen production are estimated to exceed 0.9 billion cubic meters (BCM) annually, representing just over 1% of Egypt's total annual water demand of approximately 80 BCM. While this figure appears relatively small on a national scale, it could pose significant challenges in regions already experiencing water stress, given Egypt's existing water scarcity issues and heavy reliance on the Nile for its water supply. Seawater desalination powered by renewable energy is proposed to meet the water demands for hydrogen production while reducing GHG emissions by 90% to 95%.