Chamwe Kaira
The new master plan for the port of Lüderitz which had been underway for over a year and will be completed in the coming months, Christopher Laing, director of energy and natural resources at Hyphen Hydrogen Energy said this week.
The new masterplan forms part of plans to design infrastructure necessary to deliver on Namibia’s green hydrogen production ambitions. The plan is being developed by the Namibian Ports Authority, NamPower, the Port of Rotterdam and Hyphen.
This is based on Memorandum of Understanding that was earlier signed between NamPort, the Port of Rotterdam and Hyphen.
NamPower and Hyphen are also investigating the possibility of the supply of excess electricity generated by the project to NamPower and how this could assist NamPower in improving Namibia’s energy security whilst simultaneously contributing to the decarbonising its electricity system.
This week, the government announced that the establishment of the Implementation Authority Office to facilitate and accelerate the development and implementation of Namibia’s synthetic fuels industry with funding for the office being provided by grants from Invest International and the European Union.
The agreement between Hyphen, the government, NamPort), NamPower and the Port of Rotterdam is expected to create a partnership to drive the delivery of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest, and only, fully vertically- integrated, green hydrogen project.
This week, the government announced it would exercise its right to take up a 24% equity interest in the Hyphen project at historical cost. The investment will be held through a financing infrastructure fund, which will look to raise money from local institutional investors and investors from around the world to develop Namibian green hydrogen projects and related infrastructure.
The N$850 million is being provided as grant funding by Invest International and will be housed by the fund. The European Investment Bank and the Government concluded a letter of intent at COP27 for the raising of €500 million.
Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, said: “The MoU we signed today and Government’s commitments to the green hydrogen industry show that Namibia is moving at pace to establish itself as a leader in the global green hydrogen race. We are now focused on working with all partners to design the infrastructure and services needed in Namibia to meet the projects timelines and meet Namibia’s development objectives.
