Germany’s state-owned Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power on the supply of green hydrogen to the European market.
Under the agreement, 200,000 tons of hydrogen produced with wind and solar power is to be shipped to Europe annually in the form of ammonia from 2030 onwards, SEFE announced in Berlin.
The hydrogen has an energy content of almost 6.7 terawatt-hours. The German government’s hydrogen strategy foresees hydrogen imports in 2030 of between 45 and 90 terawatt-hours.
Germany sees hydrogen playing a key role in the country’s energy requirement, alongside electricity produced from renewables. The gas is to be used to make steel and to generate electricity when insufficient wind and solar power are available.
ACWA Power planned to become a leading developer, investor and operator of production facilities for green hydrogen and green ammonia, SEFE said.
“SEFE will serve as a co-investor and the primary off-taker, leveraging its position as one of Europe’s largest energy trading companies to market the green hydrogen to its German and European customers,” according to the agreement signed in Riyadh in the presence of Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and German Minister of Finance Jörg Kukies.
SEFE was previously Gazprom Germania, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, and was taken over following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The company previously announced a hydrogen import agreement with Brazil’s Elektrobras, also for 200,000 tons annually from 2030. It has also reached agreement with Norway’s Equinor on low-CO2 hydrogen for the period 2029 to 2060.
Germany is aiming to import hydrogen with an energy equivalent of between 360 and 500 terawatt-hours by 2045, along with 200 terawatt-hours of hydrogen compounds.
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (L) meets with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at Al Yamamah Palace. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa