Consortium signs $34 billion MoU for hydrogen project in Mauritania

BERLIN (Reuters) -German project developer Conjuncta on Wednesday said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Mauritania, Egypt's energy provider Infinity and the United Arab Emirates' Masdar for a $34 billion green hydrogen project in the West African country.

The project will have a production capacity of up to 8 million tonnes of green hydrogen or other hydrogen-based end products annually, with an electrolyser capacity of up to 10 gigawatts, the company said in a joint statement with the firms involved and the Mauritanian government.

"(This project) will have a strong link to Germany both as a technology provider and a potential offtaker of green energy," Conjuncta Chief Executive Stefan Liebing said.

Germany has been scrambling to ramp up its renewables capacity to compensate for Russian fuel imports and meet climate targets. In December, Berlin approved the construction of the country's first hydrogen pipeline network.

The first phase of the Mauritania project, to be located northeast of the coastal capital of Nouakchott, should be completed in 2028 with planned capacity of 400 megawatts, it said.

The German government and the economy ministry were not immediately available for comment on the agreement.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, Friederike Heine; editing by Kirsti Knolle and Jason Neely)