Africa’s willingness to grasp green hydrogen was a major topic discussed in the recent Digital Energy Festival webinar, moderated by Cornelius Matthes, senior vice president of Dii Desert Energy, MENA.
The world is openly embracing hydrogen as a clean energy source in order to decarbonise traditionally carbon-heavy sectors. The expert panel delved into whether Africa’s policy frameworks and existing infrastructure are sufficient to allow the continent to keep up with or even beat their European counterparts.
Cornelius Matthes of Dii Desert Energy opened the session by stating that: “Green hydrogen is all over, and it will be interesting to know where we stand in Africa”.
Cornelius Matthes explained that Africa and MENA are already successful players in renewables, so hydrogen is the next wise step. Matthes’ company, Dii Desert Energy, is presently working with key Shareholders to develop the market, based on the successful strategies being deployed in countries such as Spain, France and Germany.
In 2020, Dii launched the MENA Hydrogen Alliance to educate public and private shareholders on opportunities within the market. Several European countries have launched ambitious hydrogen strategies and according to Cornelius Matthes, these will play an important role in driving development in Africa.
The company has also been part of developing the North Africa – Europe Hydrogen Manifesto, and has supply LCOE models to the European Green Deal’s 2x40GW Initiative. The European Union’s Frans Timmermans (Executive Vice-President for the Green Deal) fully supports the African hydrogen market and has included import and export models in their official EU strategy.
