In cooperation with German investors, Namibia has commissioned Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest green hydrogen production project. The government approved the entry into the 10 billion dollar project with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, whose shareholders are renewable power developer Enertrag and infrastructure developer Nicholas, according to CLEW. The plan is to build wind farms and photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of seven gigawatts (GW) to produce green ammonia, a hydrogen derivative which can be transported more easily. “The total project capital investment of 10 billion dollars is roughly equivalent to the country’s annual GDP,” Hyphen said. “At full scale development, anticipated before the end of the decade, the project will produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually for regional and global markets.”

The Namibian government and Hyphen said they are confident that the feasibility and implementation agreement will be signed this week and “will set a new global benchmark, creating a template for the sustainable and equitable development of other green hydrogen projects.” EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that the former German colony in southern Africa had the potential to become one of the main renewable energy hubs on the African continent, and even worldwide.