(Windhoek / Namibia) – A hydrogen project of considerable proportions now appears to be making progress: Hyphen Hydrogen Energy Pty Ltd. is seeing progress on its gigawatt project following discussions with the Namibian government and says it is heading towards signing an agreement before the end of this year.

Investments of ten billion dollars planned

The Namibian government selected Hyphen following a tender in November last year, the first large-scale green project Hydrogen project des  to develop the country. The investments are estimated at around ten billion dollars (9,91 billion euros).

The signing, which is expected soon, will mark “the beginning of the front-end engineering and design phase”. Hyphen therefore wants to “rapidly expand” its team in Namibia and has already hired five more employees. In addition, offices have been rented in the newly built Nedbank campus in the center of the capital Windhoek (Otjozondjupa region).

Electrolyzers with an output of three gigawatts

When fully operational, the plant is expected to produce around 350.000 tons of green hydrogen annually for regional and global markets by the end of the decade. The output of the electrolyzers is estimated at three gigawatts, which are fed with renewable electricity from power plants with an installed capacity of five to six gigawatts. Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2025, and the first phase is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2026.

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Pty) Ltd. is a joint venture between the strategic investor for infrastructure projects Nicholas Holdings Limited and Enertrag South Africa (Pty) Ltd., a subsidiary of the German power producer Enertrag AG. Hyphen was founded specifically for the development of green hydrogen projects in Namibia.

Upgrading locomotives for hydrogen propulsion

The Hyphen sister company Hyphen Technical Investment Ltd. has meanwhile been commissioned to work with the national railway company Transnamib, the Belgian company CMB, which specializes in hydrogen drives, and the University of Namibia (UNAM), to convert two locomotives to run on hydrogen and diesel. These are to be used within 18 months on a route of more than 200 kilometers from Walvis Bay (Erongo) on the Atlantic to Kranzberg. CMB is supposed to produce the green hydrogen in the port city.

According to Hyphen, the project, which costs 7,63 million euros, is being carried out by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Namibian government with the support of the climate competence center SASSCAL (Southern African Science Center for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management). promoted. “This is the first step towards converting Transnamib’s rail vehicles, which consume eleven million liters of diesel annually, to an environmentally friendly fuel,” the company says.

Four hydrogen projects approved

The project is one of four projects that Namibia has selected to implement its hydrogen strategy. According to the in Dubai Based news portal “Zawya”, a hydrogen filling station in Walvis Bay is being funded with a further 25 million euros. The developer is Cleanergy Namibia, a joint venture between CMB and Namibia's largest private group Ohlthaver & List (O&L Group). According to the CMB website, the project is expected to begin operations at the end of 2023 and will fuel trucks and locomotives, as well as vehicles for the port and mining sectors. The electricity comes from a 5,5 megawatt solar park to be built, which will supply an electrolyzer with an output of four megawatts. Building on this pilot project, a larger commercial facility for ammonia production is planned.

Germany is financing projects with 30 million euros

In another project, Cleanergy Solutions Namibia, CMB Germany, the port operator Namport and UNAM are building a five-megawatt electrolyzer and a mobile hydrogen filling station. Existing tugs and port equipment will also be converted to operate with hydrogen/diesel fuel technology, an environmentally friendly bunkering and refueling infrastructure will be developed and a German-Namibian partnership across the entire hydrogen value chain will be investigated. 5,66 million euros are estimated for the implementation.

Furthermore, according to Zawya, 15,1 million euros will be made available for a 1,5 gigawatt green hydrogen project in Daures county, which will produce 508 kilograms of green ammonia per day in the first phase. The aim is, among other things, to develop technologies for the use of green hydrogen and ammonia.

Following a call for funding, a total of 25 proposals for pilot projects were submitted, of which a maximum of five can be implemented. Germany is providing financial resources amounting to 30 million euros for this purpose. In August 2021 the BMBF had one Hydrogen Partnership between Germany and Namibia and funding totaling 40 million euros was promised.

Four hydrogen centers planned

In addition to these four projects, the news portal reports, the development of four hydrogen centers is planned:

• A solar-powered electrolysis plant for the production of ammonia and a terminal for the export of synthetic fuels from the port of Walvis Bay will be built in the Erongo region.
• A photovoltaic and onshore wind project is being built in the Karas region to produce ammonia for export from the ports of Luderitz and Oranjemund, which will be connected by a hydrogen pipeline.
• Otjozondjupa uses carbon dioxide from the cement industry and solar-generated hydrogen to produce synthetic fuel for export from the port of Walvis Bay.
• In Kunene, an electrolysis plant powered by photovoltaics and wind power is used to produce ammonia near a new port facility.

In addition, according to Zawya, additional centers for domestic demand for hydrogen are being developed to refuel heavy trucks, buses and rail vehicles and to promote hydrogen transport.

Only in July of this year did Federal Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck one specifically Special Representative appointed for German-Namibian climate and energy cooperation. The former State Secretary Rainer Baake received the post. His task is to build a hydrogen economy based on the March cooperation agreement with the Namibian government.

Photo above
© Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Pty) Ltd.

Photo middle
Rendering of the planned hydrogen filling station in Walvis Bay. © CMB.Tech

Photo below
Rainer Baake, new special representative for German-Namibia climate and energy cooperation since July 2022. © BMWK / Susanne Eriksson

Map
Regions of Namibia. © Wikipedia

deep link

(Editor's note: In the article, Hydrogen Energy's planned installed capacity of the renewable energy power plants to supply the electrolyzers was corrected to "five to six gigawatts".)