MAN Energy Solutions: sub-Saharan supply of generation and new investment in hydrogen

MAN Energy Solutions has announced its involvement in a number of different, African ventures, including the supply of generation technology for a newly built power plant in Chad, the expansion of an existing plant in Niger, and the commissioning of another power plant in Burkina Faso, as well as a new investment in hydrogen production.

In Chad, the company will supply 4 × 18V32/40 CD engines to a new power plant providing a total of 35 MW to the national grid. Currently under construction north of national capital, N’Djamena, the transport of the plant’s heavy duty engines and auxiliary equipment over more than 1,800 kilometers by truck from the port city of Douala, Cameroon, will prove a particularly challenging task. “Currently, just 10 percent of Chadians have access to electricity. We are proud that we can now make a significant contribution to the electrification of the country with our engines in this new plant,” said Ghassan Saab, Head of Power, MEA Region at MAN Energy Solutions.

MAN Energy Solutions is also involved in the expansion of a power plant near Niger’s national capital, Niamey. With 4 × MAN 18V48/60TS engines already in operation on-site, the addition of another engine of the same type will add another 20 MW to the power plant’s total capacity, bringing it to a total of more than 100 MW. “After this expansion, the Niamey power plant alone will provide over 45% of Niger’s generation capacity,” said Saab. “However, Niger is still one of the countries in Africa with the lowest electrification rate and we are in talks with the country’s government to increase it significantly over the next few years.”

MAN engineers recently commissioned 3 × MAN 18V51/60TS engines for a power plant expansion in Burkina Faso. The plant in Kossodo, a suburb of main city, Ouagadougou, will provide 55 MW of electrical power to the national grid, increasing the country’s generation capacity by nearly 20%. Following the successful expansion of the power plant in Kossodo, almost 50 percent of Burkina Faso’s installed capacity is now based on MAN technology. 

MAN invests up to 500 million euro in hydrogen production

Over the next few years, MAN Energy Solutions will invest up to 500 million euro in its subsidiary H-Tec Systems to transform the hydrogen specialist into a mass-producer of PEM electrolyzers as quickly as possible.

“Our plan is clear,” explained Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions. “We are transforming H-Tec Systems into one of the world’s leading players in the field of PEM electrolysis. Over the next five to ten years, green hydrogen will become one of the most important primary energy sources for the global economy as it continues to decarbonize. With PEM electrolysis, H-Tec Systems has mastered one of the most important processes for industrially scaled hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. The technology is mature and has already been placed on the market successfully. The next step is therefore to scale and set up highly automated serial production – and we would like to make rapid progress with this.”

On its way to becoming a market leader, the company not only benefits from a global sales network and the experience that MAN Energy Solutions has in major projects, but also from direct access to the expertise and experience of the Volkswagen Group, especially in matters relating to production scaling and the supplier-based series production business.

H-Tec Systems is already successful on the market with solutions for the electrolysis of hydrogen and offers its customers integrated container solutions in the megawatt range. The specialist is restructuring its management team to implement the growth strategy, which has now been approved: Robin von Plettenberg, previously Head of the Turbomachinery Service Business at MAN Energy Solutions, is coming on board as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as well as Chief Sales Officer (CSO). Frank Zimmermann will take on the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Marius Zasche, previously Head of the Components Business at MAN, completes the Executive Board team as Chief Technology & Operations Officer (CTO/ COO). 

Robin von Plettenberg explains the growth strategy as follows: “The market for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources is currently focused on decentralized production and local use. Over the next few years, we will see increasingly larger projects, such as those for integrating entire wind farms. We are increasingly expecting projects on a scale of over 100 megawatts and, in the medium term, are also predicting structural changes in the market for multi-gigawatt large-scale plants, which are used in particular to export hydrogen and supply industrial sectors worldwide.”