Hyphen moves closer to becoming strategic foreign project for Germany

Hyphen Energy’s flagship USD-10-billion (EUR 9.21bn) green hydrogen and ammonia project in Namibia has taken the next step on the path to securing a “strategic foreign project” status from the German government.

German renewables developer Enertrag SE, which is the controlling shareholder of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Pty) Ltd, has signed on March 19 a letter of intent (LoI) with the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck that confirms the suitability of the project in Namibia to be considered for final approval to be designated as such.

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The German government is giving this status to select international projects involving German companies. The selectees are then eligible to receive targeted support in their implementation.

"Germany is supporting the development of a green hydrogen economy in Namibia that is sustainable for the population through hydrogen and PtX cooperation. The "Hyphen" project is committed to this in a similar way. We are therefore prepared to categorise it as a foreign project, under certain conditions, in the strategic interest of the Federal Republic of Germany and thus provide more support than usual through our foreign trade promotion instruments,” Minister Habeck commented.

Hyphen’s flagship project envisages the installation within the Tsau //Khaeb national park of around 3 GW of electrolysis capacity powered by electricity from about 7 GW of renewables, predominantly wind and solar.

Apart from Enertrag, the project company is owned by Nicholas Holdings Limited.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.921)