We explore Namibia’s vision of a sprawling hydrogen ecosystem. The country plans to leverage its competitive wind and solar energy potential and strategic coastal location to produce electrolytic hydrogen and ammonia for the global market. We also highlight some of the key projects and partnerships already underway, and some key bottlenecks that must be overcome.
In our October episode of Project Features, Hyphen Hydrogen Energy outlined its multi-phase, mega-scale renewable ammonia project set to be the first step in Namibia’s green industrialization pathway. Learn about current timelines and future expansion scope for the 2 million tons per year project, and how the physical infrastructure footprint has been carefully minimized to allow for its siting in the Tsau Khaeb national park.
Meet Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a renewable ammonia developer focused on production projects in Namibia. Hyphen’s current focus is a project featuring up to 2 million tons of ammonia each year near Port Lüderitz on Namibia’s southwest coast. Hyphen has already secured multiple offtake contracts, and will supply European customers using Chane’s Port of Rotterdam import infrastructure.
As part of a new agreement with the Spanish government, Envision Energy will develop a fully integrated green industrial park in Spain, producing key renewable technologies for renewable hydrogen projects in Europe. In Namibia, Envision and Zhero will collaborate on a 500,000 tons per year renewable ammonia plant, to be located near Walvis Bay.
Based on Topsoe’s H2RETAKE™ technology, an ammonia cracking facility owned and run by Approtium will be built in Ulsan, South Korea. Approtium has already secured a supply of ammonia via an offtake agreement signed with Hyphen Hydrogen.
International crude oil giant Euronav and CMB.TECH will merge to form a new clean shipping entity. The future fleet will feature nearly one hundred ammonia-fueled ships, including Ultramaxes, large-scale container vessels, long-range carriers and chemical tankers. Further details have also emerged about CMB.TECH’s ammonia fuel production project in Namibia, which is targeting a yearly production capacity of 185,000 tonnes of ammonia fuel by 2028.
New industry partnerships between suppliers, offtakers and existing infrastructure owners will boost confidence for project developers in the fast-growing renewable ammonia industry. Recent announcements from Namibia, Germany and Norway demonstrate that a comprehensive ammonia supply chain is being established between Europe and key global locations, making FID & project investment decisions more straightforward.
Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has signed off-take MoUs with a major chemical company and South Korean hydrogen producer Approtium bringing the total off-take for their Namibian mega-project to just over one million tonnes of renewable ammonia each year. Also in Namibia, Fortescue Future Industries will support the early stages of the new Daures Green Hydrogen Village project.
Air Products and Mabanaft will develop ammonia import & distribution infrastructure at Mabanaft’s existing tank terminal at the Port of Hamburg. From 2026, ammonia imports will be “converted” to hydrogen at Air Products facilities in Hamburg, then distributed to customers in northern Germany. Meanwhile, RWE and Hyphen have signed an offtake agreement, with 300,000 tonnes per year from Hyphen’s under-development mega-project in Namibia to be shipped to Germany. RWE is developing an ammonia import terminal in Brunsbüttel (just up the Elbe River from Hamburg), which will be ready to receive shipments from 2026.
The European Commission has signed strategic partnerships with three countries at COP27: Namibia, Kazakhstan and Egypt. Key cooperation areas include boosting the rollout of renewable energy generation for hydrogen production, and European investment to finance renewable hydrogen production. Also in Sharm el-Sheikh, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz announced the first tender process for H2Global will shortly commence, with a further €4 billion to be invested into the pay-for-difference initiative.