Harnessing Africa’s Potential
Uniquely positioned for the development of green hydrogen
With COP27 being held in Africa this year, Hyphen wants to play its part in helping Namibia to show the world the leading role that Africa can take in powering the global energy transition.
The problem we are trying to solve
There has never been a more critical time in the history of our planet to accelerate the global transition to clean, renewable energy.
Global greenhouse gas emissions are at their highest ever levels and there is an urgent need for the world to decarbonise in order to meet net zero goals and protect the planet.
Dependence on unstable countries and regions, as recently seen with the Russia/Ukraine conflict, has shown energy users that there is a need to diversify their energy supplies.
The role that Namibia can play in helping the world decarbonise
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has made clear that there is an urgent need to step up investment in low-carbon hydrogen with US$1.2 trillion needed globally by 2030 to achieve the world’s green hydrogen objectives.
To achieve net zero the world will require approximately 500-600 million tons per annum of green hydrogen. At the European level the EU has recently pledged to triple current 2030 targets for green hydrogen imports to 10 million tons per annum by 2030.
Germany, in particular, is leading the adoption to green hydrogen as an alternative to Russian natural gas – Namibia is drawing on international capital and expertise to implement its green hydrogen strategy and recently signed a joint declaration with Germany to accelerate the research, and production of green hydrogen.
Uniquely positioned
Namibia is uniquely positioned to be one of the largest green hydrogen producers globally:
- Significant land availability (35th largest in the world by landmass; 2nd least populated country in the world)
- Amongst the world’s top resource-rich locations for the co-location of wind and solar energy
- One of the most stable democratic governments in Africa
- Few, if any, competing interests (e.g., competing industries, infrastructure, or unsupportive private landowners)
- Geographic proximity of renewable resources to coast and port connectivity to global markets
Progress so far
We are committed to working with national, regional, and local Government and local communities.
- The first early phases of the environmental assessment process have commenced and our environmental consultancy and pending approval as awarded bidder, SLR will be conducting a series of public participation workshops over the coming 18-24 months, in local communities around the proposed project site.
- Even at this very early stage in the process, SLR has undertaken an initial environmental screening to identify critically sensitive areas in the park and these have already been designated as no-go areas for development.
- Hyphen will only be approaching funders for the project that are aligned with International Finance Corporation (IFC) Environmental and Social Performance Standards.
We are putting the environment at the centre of what we do
All stakeholders we engage with are committed to developing an inclusive green hydrogen project with the least environmental impact.
Hyphen has appointed the global environmental consulting firm SLR as its environmental practitioner to guide the project through the environmental assessment process in accordance with Namibian law and international best practice.