Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) has expressed optimism that its planned N$170 billion project will be signed off by the Namibian government before the year ends.
This comes as Cabinet has endorsed the composition and appointment of the Government Negotiations Team assembled to finalise the Implementation Agreement as well as the proposed timeline of its signature.
The signing of the Implementation Agreement will trigger the commencement of the front-end engineering and design phase in the development of the project, which will be constructed over two phases with the eventual goal of producing 350 000 t/y of green hydrogen from 5 GW to 6 GW of renewable generation capacity and a 3 GW electrolyser.
“We are very pleased at the commitment and rapid pace of progress that the Namibian Government has shown as we move towards concluding the Implementation Agreement to enable us to start the next phase of the project,” said Hyphen CEO Marco Raffinetti.
“It demonstrates the Government’s belief in Hyphen’s vision and capability to execute this ambitious and transformative project.”
Raffinetti said the company’s project will put Namibia’s green hydrogen industry firmly on the global energy and decarbonisation map and position Namibia for rapid green hydrogen scalability.
The Green hydrogen development company has onboarded Boston Consulting Group and Lazard as its international strategic and financial advisors respectively, complementing its existing legal advisory team comprising Slaughter and May and ENS Africa.
“Hyphen and its broader advisory team are working closely with the Government and its advisors to ensure that Namibia’s potential as one of the top three locations in the world for green hydrogen production is realised,” the company said, adding it had appointed five Namibian nationals, including Toni Beukes as Environment, Sustainability and Governance Leader and leased offices.
Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a joint venture between Nicholas Holdings of the UK and ENERTRAG of Germany, was selected as the preferred bidder for the country’s first green hydrogen project in November 2021.
Hyphen and the Namibian government aim to begin construction in January 2025, with commissioning of the first phase by the end of 2026.
Meanwhile, Hyphen’s sister company, Hyphen Technical, together with partners TransNamib, CMB.TECH and the University of Namibia were recently selected to develop a hydrogen powered locomotive with two hydrogen-diesel dual fuel locomotive prototypes with a hydrogen fuel tender wagon at a cost of €7.63 million.
The project is being part funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), through the Namibian Government, supported by Southern African Science Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL).
