2023-11-27 Maihapa Ndjavera
The multimillion-dollar Daures green hydrogen project is roughly 66% of the way through construction.
Jerome Namaseb, the consortium CEO, anticipates that production will begin in June 2024.
The green hydrogen revolution in Namibia is getting closer to reality.
This puts Namibia on the path to developing renewable energy on a wide scale at a low cost, creating models for maintaining fiscal revenue maximisation and local development in renewable energy investments, and producing green ammonia.
The Daures Green Hydrogen Consortium last year secured a N$220 million grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research to implement a Daures Green Hydrogen Village project in that constituency. Last week, media practitioners had a site visit at the village, where the CEO stated that phase one includes the pilot project which is from 2022 – 2024; phase 1.5 follows from 2024 – 2027, where green fertiliser production starts; phase two includes the regional and international export of green ammonia from 2029 – 2032; and phase three, which is beyond 2032, is for the international export of green ammonia.
The project is expected to integrate application technologies for the utilisation of green hydrogen in agriculture, ammonia nitrate and cleaning detergents and fuel cell-operated centre pivots, boreholes and houses.
“To date, we have experienced some challenges. But on a whole, the project is moving as anticipated. We have lost some construction days due to the wind conditions on site, which has resulted in one or two delays,” said Namaseb.
Other challenges they anticipate will be the sourcing of skilled labour who have prior experience in running a hydrogen and ammonia-producing facility.
Water was one of the project’s major challenges, although the CEO noted that they will be using groundwater in the interim.
“In the long run, we conducted a feasibility analysis to determine whether it would be feasible to obtain water from the ocean or the 130-kilometre distance Erongo Desalination Plan,” said Namaseb.
Earlier this year, Erongo governor Neville Andre pined his hopes on this project to address poverty, unemployment, housing and social challenges the region faces.
He said the project, which was launched earlier this year, has the potential to transform not only the economy of the region, but also grant rural communities in the Daures constituency the opportunity to become shareholders.
“There is hope for employment, housing and infrastructure. Therefore, I want to urge you to support the project so that we make it a success. The region’s growth trajectory indicates that there are new opportunities in mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, green hydrogen and ammonia and nuclear energy in the agricultural sector, as well as the prospect of value-addition in our dimension stone.
Hence, we as leaders should continue our current trend, as it is pleasant to see that we put our region first, regardless of our political affiliation,” Andre said at the time. [email protected]
Source: New Era – https://neweralive.na/posts/construction-of-daures-green-village-on-track