Germany looking for hydrogen in South Africa

Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck will start a five-day trip to Namibia and South Africa on Sunday in an attempt to secure new energy resources for Europe’s biggest economy, compensating for the cut-off from Russian gas supplies.

During his first stop in the Namibian capital Windhoek, Habeck, who will be accompanied by a delegation of 24 German business leaders, will sign an agreement on the production of green hydrogen.

Namibia is considered to be an ideal location because of its huge amounts of sun, wind and uninhabited space.

Germany’s RWE and consortium Hyphen Hydrogen Energy recently signed a memorandum that could see RWE offtake up to 300,000 tons per year of green ammonia, a hydrogen derivative that is particularly suitable for transport by ship.

Next week, Habeck will attend the German-African Business Summit in Johannesburg together with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has come under political pressure following allegations of corruption.

Habeck’s Africa visit is part of a larger diplomatic mission by the German government to establish new energy alliances abroad after Russia cut off its gas supplies in September.

Habeck has recently also travelled to Canada, Qatar and Norway in an attempt to secure LNG resources.