Name of the Project
Hyphen Hydrogen Energy.

Location
Tsau //Khaeb National Park, near Luderitz, in Namibia.

Project Owner/s
Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has been appointed as the preferred bidder to develop the project. It will operate the project for a 40-year period, following the conclusion of the feasibility study and sign-off from the Namibian government.

Hyphen is a Namibian-registered green hydrogen development company, specifically formed to develop green hydrogen projects in Namibia for international, regional and domestic supply.

Hyphen’s shareholders are Nicholas Holdings, a strategic investment and infrastructure project developer, and renewable-energy company ENERTRAG.

Project Description
The development of Namibia’s first large-scale vertically integrated green hydrogen project will be completed in phases.

Phase 1 will create 2 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity to produce green hydrogen for conversion into green ammonia. This phase aims to produce 120 000 t/y of green hydrogen, to be further processed into 700 000 t/y of green ammonia for export to Europe.

After Phase 2, the Hyphen project will possess solar and wind electricity generation capacity of 5 GW and 3 GW of electrolysis, which will yield about 300 000 t/y of hydrogen, which translates into 1.7-million tons of green ammonia.

The project is expected to displace five- to six-million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide emissions.

Potential Job Creation
About 15 000 construction jobs will be created during the four-year construction period, with an estimated 3 000 permanent jobs being employed once the project is fully developed. More than 90% of these jobs are expected to be filled by Namibians.

The Government’s GH2 strategy, which envisages up to 50 equivalently sized projects as Hyphen’s, may result in 200 000 permanent jobs in wind and solar, excluding the downstream and upstream industries included in government’s plans.

Capital Expenditure
The first phase of the project will cost $4.5-billion; Phase 2 will cost $9.5-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Following the conclusion of the necessary contractual arrangements with government, Hyphen will complete all the necessary feasibility, engineering and permitting processes to allow for construction to start in January 2025, with commissioning of the first phase expected by the end of 2026.

The project is expected to produce two-million tonnes a year of green ammonia by 2029.

Latest Developments
Namibia has taken another step towards the creation of a green hydrogen industry, following President Hage Geingob’s Cabinet agreement to sign a feasibility and implementation agreement (FIA) with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy for the project.

The FIA comprises five sequential phases, including a two-year feasibility period, during which Hyphen will prepare a feasibility report that, once validated, is to be followed by project financing, construction and operational phases.

Hyphen is responsible for the technical, financial, environmental, social and commercial delivery of the project, while Namibia is responsible for providing the land, as well as the legal, fiscal and regulatory environment necessary for the establishment of a domestic green-hydrogen industry.

Namibia also has an option to acquire an interest of up to 24% in the project, which Hyphen expects will produce a million tonnes of green ammonia in 2027 before ramping up to full production in 2029. Hyphen has signed memorandums of understanding with a number of potential customers in Europe and Korea.

The FIA includes various socioeconomic development commitments, including job creation and a 30% local-procurement target.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Hyphen Energy, email info@hyphenafrica.com