Namibia has picked Hyphen Hydrogen Energy to build the country's 1st large scale vertically integrated green hydrogen project with capacity to produce 300,000 tons annually with the help of 5 GW renewable energy capacity. The company called it Southern Africa's 1st GW scale green hydrogen project.
Namibia selected Hyphen Hydrogen post a competitive tender process and now the company will construct and operate the facility for 40 years, post feasibility studies and other requirements are in place.
Held by UK based investment holding company Nicholas Holdings Limited and German renewable energy company Enertrag, Hyphen Hydrogen Energy is a project development company set up specifically to construct and operate green hydrogen production facilities in Namibia.
The $9.4 billion project is to be installed in phases at Tsau//Khaeb National Park. Under phase I worth $4.4 billion, 2 GW renewable energy capacity is planned to be used to produce green hydrogen for conversion into green ammonia and it is scheduled to enter production in 2026. In the late 2020's, later phases are planned to expand combined renewable energy capacity to 5 GW and electrolyzer capacity to 3 GW.
Green hydrogen or its derivative form as green ammonia produced are planned to be sold to regional and global markets.
"The Tsau //Khaeb national park is among the top 5 locations in the world for low-cost hydrogen production, benefiting from a combination of co-located onshore wind and solar resources near the sea and land export routes to market," said Marco Raffinetti, the CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen.
The CEO of Namibian Investment Promotion and Development Board, Nangula Uaandja called it a milestone project that will lead to the creation of an average 15,000 direct jobs over 4 years and 3,000 permanent direct jobs over the 40-year period. More than 90% of these jobs are expected to be filled in by Namibians.
Namibia is working on another GW scale renewable energy project with its neighbor Botswana for a 5 GW solar complex at their borders and signed a memorandum of intent for the project in April 2021 (see Botswana & Namibia Sign MoI For 5 GW Solar Project).