The development comes hot on heels of Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group recent announcement to help fast-track the development of an affordable green fertiliser supply chain in Kenya.
By EB Content Studio and agencies
Kenya’s push for production of fossil fuel-free fertiliser has intensified following the German government’s announcement to financially back Kenya to produce synthetic fertilisers using green hydrogen rather than fossil gas, thereby reducing her dependence on fossil-fuelled fertiliser imports.
Funds set to support climate-friendly fertiliser production in the country are to be disbursed before the end of the year, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze announced after talks with her Kenyan counterpart William Ruto in Berlin on Tuesday.
“Renewable energies can address multiple challenges at once – from the climate crisis to hunger,” the Social Democrat said in a statement.
The production of synthetic fertilisers is highly gas intensive – a need that has traditionally been met through fossil gas.
Worse still, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s ensuing sanctions against Moscow and Minsk sent fertiliser prices skyrocketing due to the drop in Russian gas imports to many countries and the disruption of mineral exports from Russia Belarus.
“This year, the world has been made painfully aware of the fatal consequences that the dependence on expensive fossil fertilisers can have for food security,” Schulze said.
Schulze’s push comes as part of a broader climate partnership that Germany and Kenya had first agreed on during the 2022 world climate conference in Sharm El-Sheik.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Schulze and Ruto agreed to extend the scope of this partnership.
The development comes hot on heels of Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group recent announcement to help fast-track the development of an affordable green fertiliser supply chain in Kenya.
Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and the Kenyan government will together develop a 300 megawatt green ammonia and green fertiliser facility by 2025.
FFI’s development of the facility in the country will be followed up by feasibility studies for two more projects in the country that are expected to scale up renewable electricity generation for green industries by up to 25 gigawatts.
The projects could produce up to 1.7 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year for exports, FFI said.
The green hydrogen and green ammonia facility will be located in the Naivasha vicinity of the Olkaria geothermal field, with FFI’s final investment decision expected in 2023.