Germany: Green hydrogen ‘strategic foreign project’

The German government this week presented a Letter of Intent (LOI) to Enertrag SE, confirming the suitability of Hyphen’s project in Namibia to be considered for final approval to be designated as a “strategic foreign project”.

Granted by the German government, this status is reserved for high-priority global projects of strategic interest to Germany, Enertrag said in a statement.

Dr Robert Habeck, Germany’s federal minister for economic affairs and climate protection, handed over the LOI to Dr Gunar Hering, Enertrag CEO, on Tuesday at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD).

Present for the signing were Namibia’s mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo and James Mnyupe, green hydrogen commissioner and economic advisor to President Nangolo Mbumba.

‘First building block’

"Germany is supporting the development of a green hydrogen economy in Namibia that is sustainable for the population through hydrogen and PtX cooperation. The Hyphen project is committed to this in a similar way,” Habeck said.

Germany is therefore prepared to categorise Hyphen as a foreign project, under certain conditions, in the strategic interest of the Federal Republic of Germany and thus provide more support than usual through its foreign trade promotion instruments, he added.

Alweendo said Hyphen’s project is the first building block in realising Namibia’s ambitions to incubate a thriving synthetic fuels industry.

“This letter of intent from the German government is a strong signal, which further emboldens our collective efforts to deepen and diversify our trade relations,” he added.

Energy transition

According to Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, designated board member for international projects and technology at Enertrag, the Hyphen project not only contributes to the energy transition, but is also an important testimony to international cooperation in the field of building new energy-trade-partnerships on the basis of a shared understanding of democracy.

“We are very pleased with the trust that the German government has placed in us with this letter of support,” Bischof-Niemz said.

Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, commented: “This Letter of Intent reflects the crucial role projects like ours will play in decarbonising heavy industry in Europe and beyond and the leading role that Germany is playing in driving forward global decarbonisation.

“We thank the German Government for their recognition of the significant advancement of our project and their trust in us as a strategic project to Germany.”

Key goal

Supporting strategic foreign projects is a key goal of the German government. The “strategic foreign project” classification is designated to select international projects involving German companies, which are then eligible to receive targeted support in their realisation from the Germany government.

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy Ltd is a Namibian registered green hydrogen development company, specifically formed to develop green hydrogen projects in Namibia for international, regional and domestic supply. Hyphen is a joint venture between Nicholas Holdings Limited and Enertrag.

The total project capital investment of US$10 billion is roughly equivalent to the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

At full scale development, anticipated before the end of the decade, the project will produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually for regional and global markets.