Energy: Billion-dollar adventure with "green hydrogen"

Despite political instability, Germany and the EU want to transfer huge sums of money to Africa to produce "green hydrogen".

On 20 November, 13 African heads of state met with European politicians and business leaders in Berlin for the fifth "Compact With Africa" economic conference. This year, they focused on the desirability of cooperation between European and African partners in scaling up so-called sustainable energies, with a particular emphasis on the need for private investment in the neighbouring European continent.

The conference, initiated by Germany in 2017, was joined by Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Egypt, among others. Angola, Zambia, Nigeria and Kenya participated as guests. Regardless of the high risks and costs, all participants unanimously committed to jointly developing the hydrogen economy towards a "climate-neutral future".

Chancellor Scholz pledged billions of German investment. Germany will buy "green hydrogen in large quantities" from African countries. This would open up great opportunities for these countries. Germany needs Africa as a partner to meet the ambitious climate targets set by the German government. Green hydrogen imported by sea is to be the basis for future energy supplies. "Climate-friendly hydrogen" will significantly improve the carbon footprint of industry and transport, the National Hydrogen Strategy 2020 proclaims, and it means that literally: "Germany is becoming a hydrogen economy."

Ecologically very questionable

According to Robert Habeck of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, about a third of Germany's hydrogen needs will be produced in Germany and 50 to 70% of demand will be met by imports from abroad. This sounds like a "win-win" situation. Compared to grey hydrogen from natural gas, however, green hydrogen is about three times more expensive and could only be financed through differential contracts or the Renewable Energy Sources Act for hydrogen.

"Competitive and reliable national framework conditions and macroeconomic stability are essential," Scholz said. He was referring to the risks associated with costly African hydrogen projects in terms of legal certainty and political stability. But these are huge. Since 2020, there have been nine military coups in Africa and two each in Mali and Burkina Faso. Regardless of the uncertain outcome of the hydrogen projects that have been launched, there is still only public talk about the potential of energy transition for new jobs and safer and more affordable energy production in Africa.

Even in many African countries with elected heads of state, super-rich family clans and cronyism still exist. And in these countries, too, the "anti-democratic arsenal", as Die Zeit reported in August 2022, has expanded. Internet blockades, flimsy trials of opposition members, police violence "and worse" are mentioned. These structures suit the global wind industry. Wind farms with 600 or more wind turbines to supply electricity for 'green' hydrogen cause catastrophic environmental damage and their construction is not without human rights violations. They cannot be implemented in Europe.

Shaken by the riots

Kenya, one of the most economically powerful and modern countries in Africa, is in the middle of the list of African countries affected by corruption, according to a report in the German newspaper "taz". Kenya has long been ruled by corrupt family oligarchies. According to an analysis by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, this is a manifestation of ethnic clientelism. Just over a year after the election of President William Ruto in August 2022, massive unrest continues to rock the country. Rising prices, unemployment and disillusionment with Ruto, who has described himself as a 'hustler' (a mix of survivalist and villain), are driving young people in particular into the streets.

At the time President Ruto announced a plan for "climate neutral production" of green hydrogen for his country, Kenya was praised by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for its ambitions on the "road to climate neutrality" at a three-day climate summit in Nairobi on 4-6 September.

As was the case recently in Berlin, the focus in Nairobi was on a strategy for so-called climate-neutral hydrogen production on the African continent. The global financing of these "climate protection projects" is still unclear. Von der Leyen announced that Kenya's "green" hydrogen strategy will receive almost twelve million euros under the EU's €300 billion "Global Gateway" investment plan for "value-driven, high-quality and transparent infrastructure partnerships".

)* Editor's note :

This article was first published in the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung; 1 December 2023, p. 7 https://www.preussische-allgemeine.de/ ; emphasis in text: EIKE editorial team.