- Plans to build the world’s largest hydro-electric power plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo could result in green hydrogen exported from Africa to Germany, said an aide to German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
- Plans for the 44GW hydropower dam were confirmed on the website of consulting firm Evagor, and backed in newspaper comments by Günter Nooke, Africa commissioner for Merkel.
“I am developing a project for the production of green hydrogen in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Evagor’s managing director Gernot Wagner said in a video posted on the company’s website.
“The project will produce electricity from a hydropower plant and convert this electricity into green hydrogen in a hydrogen production plant [electrolyser]. The hydrogen will then be transformed into liquid hydrogen and be transported in tanker vessels to Europe, to Germany.”
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Nooke told local newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that German companies should back the construction of the giant dam in Congo, and in return the African country could sell very cheap hydrogen to Germany afterwards.
“You could combine all plans, climate policy, the industrialisation of Africa, good relations with China and the US, with it,” Nooke is quoted as saying in the newspaper. “It’s time for Inga 3.”
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Evagor’s Wagner said 10 companies are part of the first planning phase for the giant project, among them six Chinese firms on the construction side, German green hydrogen specialist Linde and Siemens New Energy, a business within the Siemens Energy spin-off.
The imported hydrogen would be used in heavy transport, heat, electricity and industry in Europe, he said, adding that the project depends on the support by the Congolese president and would contribute billions to the poor country’s budget.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
