The German government presented a Letter of Intent (LoI) to ENERTRAG SE, confirming the suitability of Hyphen’s project in Namibia to be considered for final approval to be designated as a “strategic foreign project”. Granted by the German Government, this status is reserved for high-priority global projects of strategic interest to Germany (“Auslandsprojekt im strategischen Interesse der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”).

Dr Robert Habeck, the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, and Dr Gunar Hering, CEO of ENERTRAG, officially signed the LoI on 19 March 2024, at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD). Present for the signing were Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy of Namibia, Tom Alweendo, and James Mnyupe, Green Hydrogen Commissioner and Economic Advisor to the President of Namibia.

Dr Robert Habeck, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection said, “Germany is supporting the development of a green H₂ economy in Namibia that is sustainable for the population through H₂ and PtX cooperation. The “Hyphen” project is committed to this in a similar way. We are therefore prepared to categorize 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.”

Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, designated Board Member for International Projects & Technology at ENERTRAG said, “The Hyphen project not only contributes to the energy transition, but is also an important testimony to international cooperation in the field of building new energy-trade-partnerships on the basis of a shared understanding of democracy. We are very pleased with the trust that the German government has placed in us with this letter of support.”

Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy said, “This Letter of Intent reflects the crucial role projects like ours will play in decarbonizing heavy industry in Europe and beyond and the leading role that Germany is playing in driving forward global decarbonization. We thank the German Government for their recognition of the significant advancement of our project and their trust in us as a strategic project to Germany.”

Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy (Namibia) said, “Hyphen’s Project is the first building block in realizing Namibia’s ambitions to incubate a thriving synthetic fuels industry. This letter of intent from the German government is a strong signal, which further emboldens our collective efforts to deepen and diversify our trade relations.”

Supporting strategic foreign projects is a key goal of the German Government. The “strategic foreign project” classification is designated to select international projects involving German companies, which are then eligible to receive targeted support in their realization from the Germany Government.