ENERGY OBSERVER
MEETS SOUTHWESTERN AFRICA, NAMIBIA
On the Southwest coast of Africa, Namibia finds itself in a distinct position. Political stability, since gaining independence from South Africa in 1990, a cool climate, and about 300 long days of sunshine per year add up the potential to not only meet its own energy needs but be a leading exporter of green hydrogen by 2030.
That is not just ambitious. It’s a major evolution from importing nearly 60% of its electricity, at lightning speed.
It was the last stop on the continent for Energy Observer, a journey we began following with our inaugural issue. Plying the seas for seven years, the solar panel-covered, wind turbine-equipped floating laboratory is an ambassador for ecological transition. It is emission-free, running on decarbonized hydrogen it makes onboard from seawater.
EO founder and captain, Victorien Erussard, and his crew were on a mission to check out a massive desalination plant in Erongo, built by French company, Orano.
The country is mineral-rich, so, lots of mining. But lots of sunshine means little rain and scarce freshwater, which the industry monopolizes.
The 20 million cubic meters of desalinated water produced per annum are just meeting the demand of mines and communities. Orano reserves the right to expand to more than double capacity.
A giant reverse osmosis plant raised a red flag. It got us to thinking about NONA Technologies, the Cambridge, Massachusetts company we profiled in our Water issue. It uses solar-powered ion concentration polarization to reduce the complexity and energy consumption of the desalination process.
It is scalable, and in a country perfect for solar energy, is it a better solution?
Maybe, but change can’t always begin on the leading edge. With so many immediate issues to solve, a plan that starts with and evolves from known technology may be the ticket to success. Transformation is never linear.
Remember that 60% imported electricity? It comes from coal-fired power plants in neighboring countries. That’s what’s used for the seawater pumps in Erongo. It sounds like a cringe-worthy future in the making, but Namibia has a lot on the drawing board.
Orano is already building a solar power plant as the first step in decarbonizing operations.
HDF Energy is developing a solar power plant that will use multimegawatt green hydrogen fuel cells to pick up the slack of energy production from photovoltaics.
Cleanergy Solutions Namibia is constructing a 10-hectare solar park and a hydrogen production facility that will include a five-megawatt electrolyzer; a first in Southern Africa. The green hydrogen it produces directly from solar will be available to the public.
Hyphen Energy is working to produce an eventual 350,000 tons of green hydrogen each year, along with up to 6 GW of renewable generation and 3 GW of electrolysis capacity.
Daures Green Hydrogen Village is poised to produce 31 tons of hydrogen and 109 tons of ammonia per year, with the goal of scaling.
At Namibia’s commercial port, located on the South Atlantic shipping lanes, a low-carbon fuels terminal is planned.
Now that’s a much brighter picture. Erussard came away optimistic, noting that with its population of only 2.5 million – and remarkable ambitions - Namibia’s energy autonomy and new hydrogen industry goals appear achievable.
