Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU) to explore areas for potential collaboration between the two entities.
The collaboration is expected to drive forward sub-Saharan Africa’s largest, and only, fully vertically integrated green hydrogen project.
Hyphen and ITOCHU, one of Japan’s largest general trading and investment companies, will now enter into talks on areas of potential collaboration on this landmark multi-billion-dollar green hydrogen project.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday by Shinya Ishizuka, ITOCHU’s CEO of Africa Bloc and Marco Raffinetti, Hyphen’s CEO.
The signing of the agreement took place at a ceremony witnessed by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry for Japan, Nishimura Yasutoshi and the Minister for Mines and Energy for Namibia, Tom Alweendo.
Raffinetti said Hyphen expects Japan to emerge as one of the key demand centres for green ammonia globally and we are delighted to have the opportunity to explore areas for collaboration with ITOCHU to unlock supply into this critical market.
“I firmly believe that Namibia has the potential to become a long-term strategic partner to Japan for the supply of green hydrogen, well beyond the scale of Hyphen’s project, given Namibia’s unique competitive advantages in green hydrogen production. Combined with the support of the Government of the Republic of Namibia that is progressively advancing the development of its green hydrogen economy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Africa Bloc, ITOCHU CEO Shinya Ishizuka said ITOCHU will initiate and enhance their industrial portfolio in the energy sector while achieving their commitments towards decarbonisation activities in various prospective industries.
“With this collaborative development of green ammonia in Namibia, ITOCHU will aim to create a wide range of ammonia value chains in various existing industrial applications as well as for future energy use, and will support our clients and industries in achieving low carbonization goals focusing on Japan, Asia and its surrounding markets,” said the CEO.
Hyphen is a Namibian registered green hydrogen development company that through a competitive tender process was awarded the rights to develop and implement Namibia’s first gigawatt (GW) scale green hydrogen project.
The partnership between Hyphen and ITOCHU marks a significant stride in advancing not only Namibia’s economic growth but also the global decarbonisation agenda.
Upon full-scale development, this ambitious venture aims to produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually by 2029 for both regional and global markets.
The project, comprising approximately 7GW of renewable generation capacity and 3GW of electrolyser capacity, could annually cut CO2 emissions by a staggering 5-6 million tonnes.
ITOCHU, boasting around 90 bases across 61 countries, stands as a leading sogo shosha, actively engaging in domestic trading, import/export, and overseas trading across diverse sectors, including energy, finance, technology, and more.
This strategic collaboration between Hyphen and ITOCHU highlights their collective dedication to spearheading the green energy revolution and marks a significant step towards a sustainable energy future.
