In co-operation with German investors, the Namibian government has approved entry into a 10 billion dollar project with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy for sub-saharan Africa’s largest green hydrogen production project. Hyphen Hydrogen Energy is a Namibian registered green hydrogen development company, specifically formed to develop green hydrogen projects in Namibia for international, regional and domestic supply. It is a joint venture renewable power developer Enertrag and infrastructure developer Nicholas. The plan is to build wind farms and photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 7 GW to produce green ammonia.

“The total project capital investment of 10 billion dollars is roughly equivalent to the country’s annual GDP,” Hyphen said. “At full scale development, anticipated before the end of the decade, the project will produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually for regional and global markets.”

The Namibian government and Hyphen said they are confident that the feasibility and implementation agreement will be signed imminently. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen commented that Namibia had the potential to become one of the main renewable energy hubs on the African continent, and even worldwide. Namibia’s president Hage Geingob said the agreement kickstarted a “process that has the potential to transform the lives of many in our country, the region and indeed the world.” Hyphen said the project will create up to 15,000 new jobs during the construction phase, and 3,000 permanent jobs during its operation.

 The project is targeting to achieve:

 Renewable Energy Capacity

Phase 1: 3.5GW renewable and 1.5GW electrolyser
Phase 2: 3.5GW renewable and 1.5GW electrolyser

Hydrogen Production

Phase 1: 175 ktH2/year
Phase 2: 175 ktH2/year

Ammonia Output

Phase 1: 1 Mt/y of ammonia
Phase 2: 1 Mt/y of ammonia

As reported in Clean Energy Wire however, analysts indicate that it remains to be seen whether water-scarce Namibia, which is relatively far away from key export markets, will be able to deliver a cost competitive product in an emerging global hydrogen sector.