Namibia aims to create 26,000 jobs in the green industrial sector by 2030, as the government identifies eight companies as part of the Green Industrialisation Agenda.
Industries identified include solar panel and wind turbine assembly, critical raw minerals value addition, synthetic fuel production, and hot briquetted iron production, with early estimates noting that these industries could create more than N$23.7 billion (US$1.3 billion) in Gross Value Added.
According to the Green Hydrogen Commissioner, James Mnyupe, the program will be conducted in close collaboration with the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade and the Ministry of Finance, which has enlisted the new potential industries to be established in Namibia.
“This work will be submitted to Cabinet in early 2024 and will be the subject of further analysis and robust deliberations. What is clear, however, is the world’s commitment to decarbonize industry will create new opportunities for Namibia to accelerate its socioeconomic development pathway – to fully capitalize on said opportunities, a One Namibia approach will prove to be vital,” said Mnyupe on Thursday.
In addition, Mnyupe also announced that after four months of searching and reviewing about 500 applications, the Namibian Green Hydrogen Programme has appointed seven executives, of which five are female, to capacitate the Green Hydrogen department.
“In our quest to deliver a thriving synthetic fuels industry and a robust new industrial opportunity set, I am delighted to share that the Executive Team will be made up of a diverse, highly skilled set of professionals, with 5 of the 7 Executive team members being female. The team boasts 130 years of global work experience, pivotal to propelling the mission of GH2 Namibia and ensuring our collective success. The team aspires to commence formal operations in our newly secured premises in Windhoek, in February 2024,” he said.
Furthermore, he said the program, after reviewing over 4000 youth applications over the past four months for scholarships, selected 90 prospective candidates.
“Offer letters should be disseminated this month. This will mean that more than 180 Namibians will have benefited from this scholarship program since its inception,” he said.
Mnyupe also revealed that Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has now concluded an agreement with SDG Namibia One to secure funding for the 24.1% Government Equity Stake.
“Once all conditions precedent have been met, feasibility activities will commence in Q1-2024. To date, Hyphen has now mobilized more than 30% of the requisite funding for the feasibility of the project from external sources, illustrating the level of strategic support the efforts have attracted beyond the project sponsors. €30 million is expected to be secured from the European Investment Bank in January 2024; this will result in more than 2/3rds of the feasibility budget being mobilized through strategic economic diplomacy efforts from the project sponsors and the Government of the Republic of Namibia,” he said.
SDG Namibia One is a bespoke blended financing infrastructure fund that will aim to raise capital from local institutional investors and investors from around the world to develop Namibian green hydrogen projects and related infrastructure.
Namibia’s Environment Investment Fund (EIF), in partnership with Climate Fund Managers, which led the registration of NH2 Fund Managers, will oversee the fund’s operations.
