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Green hydrogen: Africa’s bridge to industrialisation

There are governments that are looking at green hydrogen as a bridge to industrialisation, and a country like Namibia has the potential to be a large player in this sector. 

This was highlighted by Wale Shonibare, Director responsible for Energy Financial Solutions, Policy and Regulations at the African Development Bank (AfDB) at the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit, which took place in Cape Town.

Shonibare pointed out that many African countries don’t have a significant amount of industrialisation.

“So you tend to find that the green hydrogen projects or the derivatives of green hydrogen, like green ammonia, are being used for projects for export.

“And in order to export, green hydrogen is a very delicate material… So you need the infrastructure; you need the port facilities, and then you also need the shipping and all that infrastructure. So many of these African countries are having to start from scratch,” Shonibare explained.

He said on the other hand, South Africa is fortunate to have an industrial base, with the country already producing cars and the an agriculture sector with a significant green fertiliser production component.

“So there’s the opportunity for domestic use of the hydrogen. And then you have the issue of funding, which is also quite difficult to get for long-term patient capital. So we need to mobilise more domestic savings. Otherwise, you have to rely on funding coming from outside, which isn’t always available, especially given the geopolitical environment in which we live.”