Q&A: Eastern Africa should prioritise enabling environments

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At a recent GIZ Green Hydrogen Symposium in Nairobi, experts agreed on the urgent need to build a strong green hydrogen ecosystem in Eastern Africa. Francois-Xavier Dubois, Head of Business Development Eastern Africa at Siemens Energy, says governments must prioritise creating enabling environments to attract investment and accelerate project development.

• Mr. Dubois emphasizes that strong political commitment and clear legal frameworks, including transparent power purchase and offtake agreements, are crucial to reducing investor uncertainty and advancing projects to financial close in the region’s emerging hydrogen market.

• In an interview, he also highlights the need to establish fully operational frameworks for grid access and wheeling, alongside improving project bankability to attract the necessary investment for green hydrogen development.

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To begin, how would you describe Siemens Energy's current engagement with renewable energy projects in Eastern Africa?"

Francois-Xavier Dubois: Our recent renewable energy initiatives in East Africa have primarily focused on co-generation, particularly biomass-to-power projects in agro-industries such as sugar and paper. These projects utilize agricultural waste, which is burned in boilers to generate steam. That steam is then used both for industrial heating processes and for electricity generation.

In the wind energy space, we’re currently active in Ethiopia with the 100 MW Assela Wind Farm, developed for Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP). Last year, we commissioned a 50 MW wind power plant in Djibouti. In Kenya, we’re involved in the Ngong Hills Wind Farm, which has a capacity of around 20 MW. We’re also supporting wind energy developments in Mauritius. 

Is Siemens Energy currently involved in any green hydrogen projects in Eastern Africa? 

Francois-Xavier Dubois: At this point, we’re not directly involved in pilot-scale projects, which in the region typically remain under 5 MW. However, we’re actively engaging with developers to explore utility-scale opportunities—projects in the 50 to 200 MW range. While large-scale hydrogen projects have yet to materialize in Eastern Africa, we see significant potential and are positioning ourselves to support their development. 

From your perspective, which Eastern African countries hold the greatest promise for green hydrogen development? And what, in your view, makes them strong candidates for early adoption in the region?

Francois-Xavier Dubois: Uganda stands out due to its surplus of hydroelectric power, which provides a stable baseload. The country’s agricultural sector is growing, and there’s a rising demand for fertilizers. Currently, fertilizers are imported at high cost, so producing them locally using green hydrogen could be transformative. 

Ethiopia also has tremendous potential. It boasts some of the world’s best wind resources, abundant land for solar, and significant hydropower capacity—like the Grand Renaissance Dam, which generates electricity at just 3–4 cents per kilowatt-hour. This makes Ethiopia well-positioned not only for fertilizer production but also for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), especially given the prominence of Ethiopian Airlines and Addis Ababa’s role as a major African air hub. 

Kenya is unique in its strong track record of independent power producers (IPPs). The entrepreneurial spirit there is unmatched in the region. While the cost of grid electricity—mainly geothermal—is relatively high, there’s strong potential for private-sector-led renewable energy projects to support green hydrogen production, particularly for fertilizer and shipping fuels at ports like Mombasa and Lamu, and for aviation fuel at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The challenge in Kenya, compared to other countries, is that projects will need captive renewable power developed by the private sector for their own offtake, rather than relying on existing state infrastructure, which is quite expensive because it's geothermal. 

Given the existing gaps in Africa's green hydrogen economy, what do you believe governments should prioritize first to truly enable project development and attract serious investment?

Francois-Xavier Dubois: The top priority is creating an enabling environment. This means strong political support and clear processes—from project ideation to signing power purchase agreements (PPAs), securing offtake contracts, and establishing supportive legislation. Second, we need operational frameworks for grid access and wheeling. While the legal basis for wheeling exists, it’s not yet functional. This is crucial for hydrogen developers, who need to generate electricity in optimal locations and transmit it to industrial zones or ports. Finally, projects must be made bankable. With current electricity costs, achieving financial close is challenging. Clear legislation around capacity remuneration and grid stability support is essential to unlock financing.

How does Siemens Energy view the balance between producing green hydrogen for domestic use versus export in Eastern Africa, and how does that influence your project strategy, especially given the region’s current cost and infrastructure realities? 

Francois-Xavier Dubois: In the short to medium term, we believe the focus should be on domestic use. Competing in the global export market means going head-to-head with countries like Morocco, Egypt, and Namibia, which already produce renewable electricity at very low costs. East Africa isn’t there yet. Instead, we should prioritize building a strong local market. This will help establish the necessary legislation, infrastructure, and political frameworks. Once that foundation is in place, the region will be better positioned to scale up for export. 

From your position in Eastern Africa, what are your hopes for the green hydrogen sector on the continent over the next 10 years? And what role do you envision Siemens Energy playing in helping bring that future to life? 

Francois-Xavier Dubois: So, my hopes for the hydrogen market in East Africa over the next 10 years would be, first of all, to see the first large utility-scale projects reaching financial close and then moving into commercial operation.  Secondly, I hope those projects are successful, both operationally and financially, because that would really pave the way for more projects across the region. It would also help de-risk how investors perceive green hydrogen developments in this part of the world. My other hope is that all East African countries, and the East African Community as a whole, work to strengthen their power grids. Without stronger, more integrated electrical networks, these hydrogen projects simply won’t happen because the electricity can’t be wheeled efficiently from where it's generated to where it’s needed.

And then my third hope, and this one is a bit more personal, is that Siemens Energy can be part of that journey. That we successfully partner with developers in the region and support them not only with our electrolyzer technology but also with everything around it, high-voltage grid connections, compressors, control systems, automation—everything they need to get their hydrogen plants up and running. 

Any final thoughts regarding the green hydrogen sector in Africa and the clean energy transition?

Francois-Xavier Dubois: My final thoughts would be to underline that, for Siemens Energy as a technology company, we can confidently say that technology is not the issue when it comes to green hydrogen projects today. The technology exists, and it is reliable. The real challenges lie on the legislative side, in administrative processes, and in strengthening the grid infrastructure. What’s needed now is a truly enabling ecosystem—one that empowers developers to succeed and accelerates the clean energy transition across the continent.