In Mauritania, the largest investment with German participation is planned for the production of "green" hydrogen in Africa. This week, an international consortium signed an agreement with the West African country's government to build a large-scale project that will produce up to eight million tons of ammonia or other hydrogen-based end products per year. The total investment is expected to amount to 34 billion dollars in the final expansion phase.
Claudia Bröll
Political correspondent for Africa based in Cape Town.
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The investor in Mauritania is Infinity Power, a joint venture consisting of the Egyptian company Infinity, Masdar from Abu Dhabi, one of the largest investors in renewable energies internationally, and the German project developer Conjuncta based in Hamburg. Upon completion, the plant would be more than three times as large as the green hydrogen project planned in Namibia, which is being promoted by the German renewable energy company Enertrag in a consortium.
Interest in green hydrogen is growing all over the world. In Europe, the projects have received even more attention since the beginning of the Ukraine war in order to find alternatives to Russian gas for energy supply. Investors see great potential in Africa in particular, although not every location is suitable despite high solar and wind intensity. In addition to Namibia, major projects are also planned in South Africa and Angola, as well as in North Africa in Morocco and above all in Egypt, where the UN Climate Change Conference COP 27 took place last year.
Starting point for further business relationships?
"We are very proud to have been able to agree this project with the Government of Mauritania. It will have a strong connection to Germany, both as a technology supplier and as a potential buyer of green energy," said Conjuncta Managing Director Stefan Liebing. It is by far the largest bilateral investment project in Mauritania, which will pave the way for further business relations between the two countries.
Six months ago, Liebing held talks with Mauritanian government representatives about his company's involvement in the country's new green hydrogen industry and later won over the financially strong investors. Conjuncta is already involved in another green hydrogen project in Angola together with the local state oil company Sonangol.
Mauritanian Oil Minister Abdessalam Mohamed Saleh said his country wants to play a leading role internationally in the production of green hydrogen. "We strongly believe that the development of this industry will bring environmental, economic and social benefits to our country and the world." As a sales market, Germany in particular is in view. Infinity board member Joachim Altpeter added that the project will be a source of clean, renewable energy not only for the Northwest, but for the entire African continent. The German manager is responsible for operations in Africa, having previously worked in the renewable energy sector in Germany.
The plant, which will be located northeast of the coastal capital Nouakchott, will have an electrolyser capacity of up to 10 gigawatts. In this case, electrolysers convert electrical energy from solar and wind power into chemical energy, producing hydrogen as an energy carrier. In the first phase, which should be completed by 2028, a capacity of 400 megawatts is planned. A total of 3000,1000 people will be employed in the construction phase and up to <>,<> if the plant goes into operation.
According to the Federal Foreign Office, there are good bilateral relations between Germany and Mauritania, although high-ranking reciprocal visits are rare. The sparsely populated state – 4.6 million people live on an area almost three times the size of Germany – is located in the conflict-ridden Sahel region, but is considered politically stable. Energy consulting firms already rank Mauritania among the five most important locations in the world in terms of announced capacities for green hydrogen, alongside Australia, Egypt, the United States and Canada. A total of four projects of this magnitude are planned there. At the end of last year, the British oil company BP signed an agreement with the Mauritanian government.