Namibia – Hyphen US$10b green hydrogen project makes progress.
HYPHEN Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) has made progress in discussions with the Namibian government towards the signing of the implementation agreement for its planned US$10 billion (N$170 billion) green hydrogen project before the end of this year.
According to a statement released by the company, material progress has been made since Hyphen’s last announcement at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in May this year, when it laid out an ambitious timeline to realise this transformative project.
At full capacity, the Hyphen project is expected to produce about 350 000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year before the end of the decade for regional and global markets, from 5-6 GW of renewable generation capacity and about 3 GW of electrolyser capacity.
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Hyphen chief executive officer Marco Raffinetti said they were pleased at the commitment and rapid pace of progress the Namibian government has shown, as they move towards concluding the implementation agreement.
Marco Raffinetti, Hyphen chief executive, said:
It demonstrates the government’s belief in Hyphen’s vision and capability to execute this ambitious and transformative project.
“Our project will put Namibia’s green hydrogen industry firmly on the global energy and decarbonisation map and position Namibia for rapid green hydrogen scalability,” he said.
Hyphen and the government are targeting the construction to start in January 2025, with commissioning of the first phase by the end of 2026. The total investment in both phases is estimated at US$10 billion, roughly the equivalent of Namibia’s annual gross domestic product.
During its meeting on 12 June 2022, the Namibian Cabinet endorsed the composition and appointment of the government negotiations team assembled to finalise the implementation agreement as well as the proposed timeline of its signature.
The statement from Hyphen, said:
The signing of the implementation agreement will trigger the commencement of the front-end engineering and design phase in the development of this ambitious green hydrogen project.
Hyphen has roped in Boston Consulting Group and Lazard as its international strategic and financial advisers, respectively, complementing its existing legal advisory team comprising Slaughter and May and ENS Africa, the statement says.
“Hyphen and its advisory team are working with the government to ensure that Namibia’s potential as one of the top three locations in the world for green hydrogen production is realised,” the statement added.
Hyphen is building its team in Namibia as it looks towards the next phase in the development of the project, with the appointment of five Namibians, including Toni Beukes, the new environment, sustainability and governance leader who will ensure this is an equitable project that benefits the people of Namibia.
Hyphen has leased space in Nedbank’s newly completed flagship Courtside office development in the centre of Windhoek, to house its team with occupation set for early October.
Hyphen’s sister company, Hyphen Technical, and partners TransNamib, CMB.TECH and the University of Namibia were on 16 August selected to develop a hydrogen powered locomotive with two hydrogen-diesel dual fuel locomotive prototypes with a hydrogen fuel tender wagon.
The H2 locomotive conversion project, at a cost of €7,63 million, (N$130 million) is being partly funded by a grant from the German federal ministry of education and research, supported by the Southern African Science Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management.
“This is the first step on the journey towards the conversion of TransNamib’s locomotive fleet that uses 11 million litres of diesel a year, to ultimately operate on green, carbon-free fuel and demonstrates the government’s commitment to develop the entire green hydrogen value chain in the country, including hydrogen use applications,” said Hyphen.
Hyphen US$10b green hydrogen project makes progress, August 8, 2022
