TransNamib could become the first state-owned railway in Africa to operate hydrogen-powered locomotive with a Hyphen Technical-led consortium proposing to convert two traditional diesel-electric locomotives to dual-fuel using hydrogen technology developed over two decades by technology partner, CMB.TECH.
The project named HyRail Namibia, is expected to take 18 months to complete and comprises of the conversion of two locomotives to use hydrogen in internal combustion engines and a hydrogen fuel storage car to store fuel for the locomotives.
The Hydrogen technology is provided by CMB.TECH and the hydrogen fuel will be provided by Cleanergy Solutions Namibia, which is developing a green hydrogen production facility near Walvis Bay.
The prototypes will be built and adapted at the Traxtion Rail Hub in Rosslyn, South Africa and then moved to Walvis Bay for operation by TransNamib. Maintenance of the locomotives will take place in Namibia by Traxtion, which will also provide training for TransNamib technical staff.
“We look forward to working with our consortium partners, BMBF and the Government of Namibia in taking this first step towards the decarbonisation of Namibia’s railways and taking a lead in African rail decarbonisation,” said Konrad Boshoff, the Hyphen Technical CEO.
“With the grant support, we will be able to offer TransNamib the experience of operating a locomotive which can run on clean and cheap fuel produced in Namibia. The tandem set of two dual-fuel locomotives with a hydrogen storage carriage in between, will be the first in the world and has a great potential to offer low-cost logistics, which will bring new opportunities for the country,” explained Roy Campe – CTO CMB.TECH.
A consortium led by Hyphen Technical, comprised of TransNamib, the University of Namibia, CMB.TECH and Traxtion, were successfully awarded funding from a share of the €30 million (over $29.1m) of grant funding made available by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) towards the consortium’s proposed €7.6 million (over US$7.37m) hydrogen locomotive project. -africa-energy-portal.org/ The Brief
