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Africa’s vast store of natural resources and booming renewable energy sector make the continent an ideal jurisdiction to benefit from the rapidly increasing global demand for green hydrogen (GH2).
GH2’s economic potential is enormous. In 2024, the Hydrogen Council and McKinsey & Company noted in a report that if African countries were able to secure just 15% of global hydrogen trade, the continent’s GH2 exports could increase from one million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) in 2030 to 11 Mtpa by 2050, attracting around US$400 billion in cumulative investment and boosting the Africa’s export revenues by US$15 billion by 2050.
However, the sector requires substantial investment in GH2 infrastructure to cost-effectively produce, transport, store and distribute the green gas. In 2022, the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA) estimated that between US$450 and US$900 billion was needed by 2050 to develop the industry. Enabling regulatory frameworks that provide clarity for investors and operators in this space is also needed.
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Collaboration
Developing partnerships with key global and regional players and attracting investment and funding for this burgeoning sector has been high on the agenda of most African countries.
Six countries in Africa: Egypt, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa are part of the AGHA, which aims to advance GH2 production in Africa through improved collaboration and a focus on policy, funding, capacity building and certification.
The African Hydrogen Partnership (AHP) is a continent-wide, non-profit trade association with member organisations from around the world. It aims to develop the sector in Africa, assisting the global decarbonisation agenda and growing economies. Hydrogen Europe, the hydrogen and fuel cell association for European-based companies, became the first association member of AHP in 2022.
The European Union (EU) has assisted numerous African countries to navigate the sector. The EU prioritised the green transition, sustainable growth and increasing access to clean energy as part of its comprehensive strategy for Africa as far back as 2020 and is now assisting African countries through funding via European Gateway initiatives as well as through sharing technical expertise and capacity building.
African development finance institutions are also playing a core role in funding African clean energy projects, partnering with local banks and private equity funds to secure sustainable finance for hydrogen initiatives and assisting to mitigate the risks of private investment.
Plans and pilots
African countries are establishing policy and regulatory frameworks to incentivise growth and investment and facilitate financing and technical guidance. Research and development into the most cost-effective methods for extracting, transporting and storing GH2 has been a major focus so far, as has phasing in the development of pilot programmes, allowing countries to scale up and learn from early successes.
Kenya
While Kenya has not yet implemented specific laws for the green hydrogen sector, existing regulations apply, including the Energy Act 2019, the Environmental Management and Coordination Act 1999, and numerous renewable energy policies.
Edwin Baru
In late 2024, the Kenyan government announced an initiative in collaboration with the Global Green Growth Institute to boost investment in green hydrogen. The initiative, entitled “Creating an Enabling Environment to Catalyse Green Investment into Green Hydrogen Industry in Kenya,” aims to create a catalysing environment to implement Kenya’s Green Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap (Roadmap).
The country launched its Roadmap in September 2023, with a focus on using green hydrogen to improve local industries, power generation and synthetic fuel production. The plan will be implemented over a 10-year period, split into five-year tranches.
After the Roadmap launch, the country published Guidelines on Green Hydrogen and its derivatives in 2024 to establish regulatory and policy frameworks to support green hydrogen initiatives. The Guidelines restrict hydrogen production to electrolysis, using renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, biomass, tidal and other ocean resources.
In 2023, Kenya signed a new partnership with the European Investment Bank and the EU Bank to identify and invest in green hydrogen in Kenya. In the same year, it was announced that HDF Energy, a developer of large-scale green hydrogen infrastructure and manufacturer of high-power fuel cells, would explore the potential of a hydrogen power plant in Kenya.
Namibia
A blueprint for Namibia’s green industrialisation was published in August 2024, according to which US$ 40 billion is needed to kickstart the green hydrogen and green industrialisation programme, and a further US$15 billion must be found to improve connectivity and port facilities.
Irvin Titus
In March 2024, the German Government signed a Letter of Intent, which recommends the Hyphen Hydrogen Energy project be recognised as a “strategic foreign project”, which will unlock support through foreign trade instruments to promote energy supplies, sustainable development, expand trade relationships, and finally, enhance security cooperation.
In November 2024, four new Team Europe initiatives were announced in Namibia, valued at US$38 million.
The country signed an MoU with the EU on Renewable Hydrogen and Sustainable Raw Materials Value Chains in 2022, and the EU-Namibia Roadmap 2023-2025 outlined the next steps in the partnership. In January 2025, the EU announced that some of the projects spearheaded by EU companies in Namibia will reach final investment decisions by the end of the year.
Also in January 2025, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, said the country’s hydrogen roadmap and partnerships with international stakeholders, such as Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, would assist in boosting the country’s green hydrogen programme.
Namibia’s Green Hydrogen Council launched its green hydrogen strategy and roadmap at COP27 in 2022. The strategy outlines ways in which the country will develop its hydrogen opportunities and outlines a target of 10 to 12 million tonnes per annum of hydrogen equivalent by 2050, with the country’s transportation, mining and agricultural sectors expected to be early beneficiaries.
The country is in the process of crafting a new Synthetic Fuels Act, which will form the basis of a comprehensive legal framework for creating an enabling environment for green hydrogen and other synthetic fuels. It includes regulations governing the taxation of the sector and will oversee pilot projects and the development of ownership and governance models. It includes training programmes and collaborations with international partners to build capacity.
Important hydrogen projects on the go include the Hyphen Southern Corridor Development Initiative Project, which has a total investment of around US$10 billion and aims to produce 300 000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030. Construction is due to start in 2026.
South Africa
The South African Hydrogen Society Roadmap (HSRM) was published in 2022 to establish a national framework for policy and actions relating to hydrogen in the country and serve as a national coordinating framework to facilitate the integration of hydrogen-related technologies.
Claire Tucker
Goals and commitments in the HSRM included the decarbonisation of the transport and energy-intensive sectors by 2050 and the creation of a GH2 export market and Centre of Excellence in manufacturing for hydrogen products and fuel cell components. The HSRM makes provision for the transition from blue to green hydrogen by 2050.
The Draft South Africa National Standard for GH2 is currently being developed as part of the broader Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy (GHCS), developed to operationalise the HSRM. In the short term, SA is focusing on catalytic projects to stimulate local demand for all types of hydrogen and illustrate its commercial viability and scalability.
Other government policies also recognise hydrogen’s role and potential uses in the South African economy, including the Renewable Energy Policy of South Africa, the Integrated Energy Plan and the Integrated Resource Plan.
The World Bank recently noted that South Africa had 20 green hydrogen-related projects underway, including the Saldanha Green Hydrogen Project, the Hive Hydrogen’s Green Ammonia Plant, and the HySHiFT Renewable Hydrogen Project. The Prieska Power Reserve is a further example of a catalytic project that will start producing green hydrogen and ammonia in 2027/28. Numerous feasibility studies, skills assessments, and environmental approvals have also been completed, and a fuel cell components manufacturing plant has been built in the OR Tambo Economic Zone.
Since the Just Energy Transition Partnership was signed by the EU, France, Germany, South Africa, the UK and the US in 2021, a number of grants for GH2 projects have been secured to boost project development in SA, including €23 million from the German development bank KfW and €50 million currently being finalised from the Dutch Government for the soon-to-be-established Green Hydrogen Fund.
As part of the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative, in January 2025, the EU announced ZAR628 million in grants for two GH2 projects in South Africa. One project will fund infrastructure development for green hydrogen storage and transport, and the other will assist with feasibility studies and pilot projects for green hydrogen production and storage.
In its Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, published in 2022, the SA Government noted that US$133 billion was needed to build the renewable infrastructure needed to power GH2 production.
Conclusion
African governments are clearly focused on ensuring the continent is on track to benefit from the booming GH2 sector in the years to come.
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