Denmark, Netherlands, South Africa Launch $1 Billion Green Hydrogen Fund — OPIS

The governments of Denmark, the Netherlands and South Africa have partnered to launch a $1 billion green hydrogen fund to accelerate development in the latter, South Africa's Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) said in a news release Tuesday.

The so-called SA-H2 blended finance fund will be supported by Climate Fund Managers and Invest International B.V. (II) of the Netherlands, Sanlam Limited of South Africa (Sanlam), DBSA and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), in collaboration with other strategic partners, according to the news release.

The $1 billion in funding would be raised directly in South Africa and via partnerships between private and public enterprises and international and domestic institutions. It will fast-track development and construction of large-scale green hydrogen infrastructure assets across South Africa.

"In November 2022, 20 green hydrogen projects were included in the Government Gazette with nine given status as strategic integrated projects (SIP) which will expedite the development and implementation of these projects. SA-H2 will be needed to support these projects and develop this new industry for South Africa," said Joanne Bate, COO of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa.

SA-H2 will join the recently announced SDG Namibia One fund, which aims to secure $1 billion in funding raised directly in Namibia or indirectly via other channels for local green hydrogen projects.

The new fund would be a significant addition to South Africa's investment plans, which target around $250 billion investment in green hydrogen by 2050.

South Africa aims to position itself as a globally competitive player in the green hydrogen industry, focusing on the local decarbonization of hard-to-abate industrial sectors such as aviation, steel and transport, as well as exporting the renewable gas to the European Union.

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--Reporting by Benita Dreesen, bdreesen@opisnet.com; Editing by Rob Sheridan, rsheridan@opisnet.com

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June 21, 2023 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT)

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