Suzie Shefeni
Interesting developments have been taking place in the Namibian green hydrogen sector since the launch of the inaugural Green Hydrogen Monitor. Namibia’s Blueprint for Green Hydrogen was published in August and various global green hydrogen convenings saw the establishment of a myriad of partnerships all with the aim of turning Namibia’s ambition into reality. This article looks at 6 of the newer players that have been creating momentum and explores the postponement of the HyRail project.
Zhero Green Hydrogen
One of the newer players on the block is Zhero Molecules Walvis Bay. The company is partnered with Envision Energy which will serve as its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner on its Namibian hydrogen ambitions. Envision Energy is a Chinese wind turbine and energy management company that is behind the NEOM 2.2 GW green hydrogen production facility in Inner Mongolia. Registered in 2022, Zhero intends to produce 500,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually from 2029, with the project earmarked to make its final investment decision by 2026.1 The plant will be located about 70 km from Walvis Bay. The company has secured lease agreements for two pieces of land, one that will house an industrial park and another near Namport that will serve as a storage facility.
Elof Hansson Hydrogen
Namibia Elof Hansson Hydrogen Namibia intends to establish a green hydrogen and ammonia production plant in the Erongo Region. The project will feature a 2500 MW solar PV plant, 80 km linear infrastructure in the form of power lines, a substation and battery energy storage system. The project will also feature a desalination plant on nearby land. The project aims to develop a green ammonia plant with a capacity of 430,000 tonnes per year. The company held public consultations for interested and affected parties in December 2023, convening in Walvis Bay. Amongst concerns raised by parties was the concern for impact on archeological and heritage sites of the neighbouring farms, of which portion 4 of Geluk no 116, as referred to as ‘Jakkalsdans’, was included.2 The project’s background information document submitted as part of the environmental impact assessment has, however, stated that, “there are currently no known heritage sites of special importance in the proposed area and hence, no negative impacts to any sites of heritage significance are expected”.
Chiffon Green Hydrogen
Chiffon Trading is a Namibian Company registered in December 2023. The company intends to construct a green hydrogen project consisting of a solar PV plant and an electrolyser plant in the Erongo Region. The project began its Environment Clearance Certificate process in early 2024, with the first call for interested and affected parties published in local newspapers in April. Chiffon Trading has held community consultations at Spitzkoppe and Swakopmund.4 Furthermore, Chiffon Trading’s hydrogen project on farm Bloemhof No 109 requires an additional 20,000 hectares which it has sourced from adjacent communal land. In November 2023, Chiffon Trading received support from the !Oe-#Gan Traditional Authority, which will allow the company to lease the land that forms part of the #GaiNgu Conservancy.
Neogreen Hydrogen
Namibia Neogreen Hydrogen Namibia is a joint venture between Alpha Namibia Industries Renewable Power Limited (ANIREP) and the Canadian hydrogen development firm, NeoGreen Hydrogen Corp.5 ANIREP boasts a portfolio of companies that are well recognised in the Namibian renewables sector including HopSol Africa, ANIREP Solar and ANISOL. Registered in 2021, Neo Green was amongst the 6 bidders for the Southern Corridor Development Initiative request for proposals, bidding for the Springbok site. Hyphen was selected as the preferred bidder for the development project. Neogreen has expressed its interest in developing green hydrogen and green ammonia projects in the Karas region.6 In 2021 the company signed a land lease option for Farm Geelschaap no.19 owned by Namibian businessman Lazarus Jacobs for the purpose of conducting feasibility studies and ultimately generating solar power in support of future green hydrogen projects.7 In October 2023, the parent company NeoGreen Holdings signed an agreement with Danish firm, Bunker Holding, to collaborate on the operations, logistics, and marketing of green ammonia and synthetic fuels across the former’s global project portfolio, including Namibia.
GreenGo Energy
GreenGo is a Danish renewable energy firm that announced its Namibian debut at the Global African Hydrogen Summit in September. At the summit, GreenGo Energy signed an MoU with local Namibian developer InnoSun Energy Holdings to co-develop solar and wind projects linked to scaled green hydrogen production. The company also entered a partnership with Lodestone, a Namibian iron mining company, with the intention to explore innovative solutions to integrate green hydrogen into the steel production process. The project is still in its nascent stages, with the company’s CEO having declared its intention to “actively participate in Namibia’s upcoming tender process for green hydrogen”.8 It is likely that the company will explore solar PV, wind and hydrogen projects under its Megaton project brand which has been seen in renewable projects in Mauritania and Denmark.
Kaoko Green Energy Solutions
Kaoko Green Energy Solutions is a local renewable energy-generation assets development company. Focusing on green hydrogen and its derivatives, the company has been at the forefront of developing hydrogen clean cooking technologies as well as research and development in marine renewables and energy storage systems. In 2023, Kaoko Green Energy Solutions signed an MOU with the Finnish company AW-Energy that specialises in near-shore wave technology. This agreement will see the development of the /hao project that integrates AW-Technology’s patent wave energy technology, WaveRoller®, into Namibia’s energy mix. It intends to construct a WaveRoller wave farm at Wlotzkasbaken, near Swakopmund. The project also aims to explore the feasibility of wave farms in other locations and expand to support Namibia’s desalination and hydrogen project energy needs in its second and final phases.9 Furthermore, Kaoko Energy is also developing a pilot hydrogen solar panel project at Walvis Bay, at the J.P Brand Primary School. This project is a partnership between Kaoko Energy and Belgian companies Solhyd and COOSHA Impact Venture, which have developed a hydrogen cookstove and refrigerator that operates on low-pressure hydrogen, sourced from their solar-hydrogen panels. The local project will demonstrate the potential of clean cooking and promote its expansion in Namibia.
TransNamib Halts Hyrail Project TransNamib announced the suspension of its dual-fuel hydrogen-diesel locomotive conversion project in September 2024. The project titled ‘HyRail Namibia’ is a joint venture between CMB.TECH, Hyphen Technical, the University of Namibia and TransNamib and has received funding from the German government’s JCOI / PTX grant. It was anticipated that the project would take 18 months to complete with the expected trial service to begin in the last quarter of 2025. In the last decade, TransNamib has been plagued by numerous problems including decreasing transport capacity, increasing operational and maintenance costs due to old and obsolete equipment and infrastructure and the outflow of qualified personnel.10 These problems have resulted in cash flow and governance challenges that still impact TransNamib’s capacity to date. The decision to pause the project has been described as a strategic realignment, allowing TransNamib to focus its limited resources to ensure the provision of quality rail transport services. During this deferment, TransNamib will initiate a preparatory phase that will allow the parastatal to develop a well-rounded approach that balances its core objectives with its decarbonisation ambitions. The partners have, however, indicated that they expect to have a green hydrogen powered locomotive on track by April 2025. Many have evaluated this decision as a smart move for Africa’s first hydrogen train project. The risks associated with first movers may be too burdensome for a parastatal to undertake, especially one in a precarious position. The pause to re-energise TransNamib’s operations and develop a transition plan may yield greater outcomes.
*This article was first published in the IPPR Green Hydrogen Monitor Issue 2: Suzie Shefeni is a research associate at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) where she has worked on projects related to renewable energy. Her professional and academic work has a strong focus contemporary security issues relating to energy security and emerging technologies
