Referring to investments under the Global Gateway package, in the presence of South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, she said member states and the private sector were making a difference at ground level.
“I am thinking, for example, of the Coega Green Ammonia project in Nelson Mandela Bay [in Eastern Cape Province],” she said. “With it, South Africa is on its way to becoming a global shipping hub as green ammonia becomes a clean maritime fuel of choice. With this investment, this is an enormous opportunity that is unfolding for South Africa.”
The project is being developed by Hive Hydrogen, a joint venture between UK-based Hive Energy and South Africa renewables firm BuiltAfrica.
Located in the Coega Special Economic Zone, the plant will use 3.6GW of renewable energy to power a 1.2GW electrolyser, producing 1 million tonnes of green ammonia annually for export to Asia and the EU.
In June it received a $20m investment from the SA–H2 Fund, a blended finance facility aimed at accelerating South Africa’s energy transition, although the exact European investment source isn’t known.
Hive Hydrogen will implement Genesis Eco-Energy wind power generation projects, totalling 372MW, in the Western Cape to generate and supply a sizable portion of power needed for the Coega Green Ammonia hub.
Von der Leyen said that South Africa is becoming “a clean energy pioneer” for the entire continent.
To help drive renewables growth, she announced new investment of €618m from Team Europe. This is an EU initiative that joins the EU and its member states, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) to coordinate and combine resources for greater impact in external action.
Global Gateway, its external investment strategy, is designed to spur infrastructure projects globally across key industries such as energy, transport and health.
Its initial goal was to mobilise €300bn in five years but von der Leyen said it has already hit its target, and was on course to surpass €400bn by 2027.
To maintain momentum, today saw the launch of the Global Gateway Investment Hub, a single-entry platform for companies to propose investments.