Can you introduce MAN Energy Solutions and give an overview of how the company serves the energy industry in Africa?

MAN Energy Solutions (MAN), part of the Volkswagen Group, is a leading energy solutions company with a strong global presence, particularly in Germany, France, Switzerland, China and India. Our solutions are based on our unique portfolio of gas engine and turbo machinery. We help to bring down emissions in the global economy’s hard to abate sectors such as oil and gas, global shipping, energy generation and other industries that cannot simply use batteries to bring down their CO2 footprint. 

Technically we are able to address 10% of global emissions, which is a huge lever. We also work to bring down our own footprint of course, which we will have cut in half by the year 2030.

On the African continent our company looks back at more than 80 years of history and we continue to be a leading supplier of smaller and decentralized power plants across Africa, which use our environmentally friendly dual-fuel engines fired by gas and our carbon reduction emission systems.

MAN Energy Solutions is also a strong partner of the global oil and gas industry and one of the industry’s top three compressor suppliers. In Africa, we are currently very active in Senegal, which is transforming itself into an oil and gas country, and we have a strong presence in Kenya and South Africa as well. We also operate a growing network of service centers in the MEA region, which is part of our vision to be as close to our customers as possible from an engineering, service and sales perspective. To do this we have built up hubs in each of the world’s four regions MEA, America, Asia and Europe, that each offer the full scope of our capabilities to our regional and local customers.

As Head of the MEA region, my mandate thus is to build as many service centers as possible across MEA for the benefit of our customers. We already operate workshops in Senegal, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Namibia, and we will continue to establish more centers to serve the growing energy sector in the continent.

What are the current trends in the African energy market? 

There is a trend of countries transitioning away from oil-fired engines or what is called ‘Heavy Fuel Oil’, especially considering global financial institutions sanctioning thermal power plants that are not gas-fired. Replacing such emission-intense fuels with climate-friendly alternative fuels offers a substantial lever to bring down emissions. 

What are some of the main challenges MAN faces operating on the African continent?

Political stability and regulatory frameworks remain a major concern in many African countries and make liquidity and financing one of the most critical challenges. Establishing power plants involves local governments and political decisions, and many times one will get bogged down in the bureaucracy around financing the project if funds flow via the government. We have seen situations where projects were stopped in the middle of execution due to finances, political turmoil, or local unrest and safety issues in countries like Mali and Burkina Faso. 

What will be MAN’s main priorities in terms of R&D going forward? 

MAN is heavily focused on R&D and nowadays we have a particular focus on further refining the future fuel capabilities of our engines. Over the years, our engines have evolved from standard diesel engines to gas engines, and now our machines are also running on methanol, ammonia, synthetic methane, and are hydrogen-ready.  We recently equipped the world’s first container ship with a methanol engine system for our customer Maersk.

What are MAN’s strategy and objectives in the African energy market for 2024 and beyond? 

MAN wants to increase our presence in Africa with more boots on the ground. We are currently expanding our service center in Senegal, and we aim to continue establishing more centers across the continent to be closer to customers and serve them better in terms of sales, services, and knowledge transfer. We consider Africa as one of the most progressive markets both in terms of our lever to improve quality of life, e.g. by bringing stable electricity to off-grid regions, and in terms of bringing down emissions with the help of carbon-friendly fuels.