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What happened to the supposed champion of the climate sector?

Green hydrogen technology promised to have everything African climate business needs. Then H2 went quiet

April 02, 2026

Welcome to Green Rising – Two and three years ago you couldn’t join a conversation about the green economy in Africa without mention of “green hydrogen”, the industrial input created by electrolysing water using renewable energy. Now? Not so much. 

Billions of dollars in investment were announced. Industrial parks full of jobs promised. Small nations such as Namibia and Mauritania bet their entire economies on using solar power to split H2 from O₂. Only to find the hype caravan moving on. 

But not all puffy talk was just hot oxygen. A number of larger economies have persevered. Green hydrogen has started flowing, slowly. And the recent spike in oil prices has once again raised interest in alternatives – of which hydrogen could be one. Eventually…

An Egyptian 100 MW green hydrogen project began exporting to Europe and the US last month, becoming one of three African initiatives to reach production. While a milestone, most projects remain stalled, with a recent Energy Industries Council report citing missing offtake agreements as a critical barrier to the continent’s ambitions.

  • Offtake agreements commit buyers to purchasing green hydrogen, providing producers with revenue certainty to secure financing and ensure stable returns

  • Without such agreements, capital-intensive hydrogen projects stall, as investors are unwilling to commit funding without guaranteed buyers, leaving many announced projects on paper.

  • Our take: The continent must do more to design hydrogen projects with the buyers in mind……..Read more (2 min)

As African grids reach capacity limits, green hydrogen developers are moving towards vertically integrated models. In South Africa, KAHRE Renewable Energy has proposed a 450 km private “Greenlink” corridor to bypass Eskom’s constrained network and link 20 GW of planned renewable capacity directly to its hydrogen production facility.

  • Hydrogen projects need huge amounts of power. In many countries, planned renewables projects already exceed grid capacity, forcing developers to build their own plants and transmission lines.

  • Private corridors could allow utilities and independent power producers to share transmission capacity to evacuate power along the route, creating wheeling revenue for hydrogen projects.

  • Our take: Integrated corridors bring efficiency and cost advantages, but may strain existing infrastructure and regulatory frameworks……..Read more (2 min)

Africa’s green hydrogen ambitions remain high, yet most projects are struggling to reach a final investment decision. There is, however, a potential solution. A new report by the H2Global Foundation, a Germany-based non-profit that supports hydrogen market development, outlines pathways for moving projects from pipeline to bankability.

  • Despite 122 green hydrogen projects having been announced across the continent, only eight have reached a final investment decision (FID), highlighting a major gap between ambition and execution.

  • Unlike successful global hydrogen projects, which are anchored in domestic demand, Africa’s are largely export-oriented, exposing them to offtake risk.

  • Our take: Hydrogen development may need to be reframed less as an export opportunity and more as a tool for industrialisation……..Read more (2 min)

Number of the week

… is the average electricity loss for African utilities from theft and billing gaps. Nigeria hits 40%. Countries are introducing smart meters to boost accuracy, cut tampering and manage demand. South Africa targets 1.7 million smart connections by year-end. Nigeria aims for 5 million by 2027.

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👉 HACO Industries named Circular Economy Leader at Kenya ESG Awards for sustainable manufacturing and EPR compliance.

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EVENTS UPDATE 

📆 Sign Up for the Gauteng Investment Conference in South Africa (April 8)

📆 Attend the Energy Conversion Systems Conference in Rwanda  (April 27)

📆 Register for the Power & Water Exhibition & Conference in Nigeria (April 28)

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