A massive green hydrogen project with German funding is taking shape in Namibia – the same country Germany crushed in the early 20th century. Some are skeptical of the plan, but many in Namibia are hoping it will produce badly needed revenues.
By Heiner Hoffmann und Tommy Trenchard (Photos)
18.08.2023, 18.26 Uhr
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Lüderitz, a town in southern Namibia, is hoping for lucrative years ahead.
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Lüderitz, a town in southern Namibia, is hoping for lucrative years ahead. Foto: Tommy Trenchard / DER SPIEGEL
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The masts are being stored on the grounds of the seal processing plant, of all places. There isn’t much going on at the moment in the gray industrial area of Lüderitz, a town on Namibia’s Atlantic coast. No seals are being brought in anymore, so the site was rented out for the storage of 10 red-and-white steel masts, carefully stacked up in their component parts.
Soon, they will be erected in the desert some 80 kilometers south of Lüderitz, where they will measure wind speed, solar radiation and barometric pressure day and night. The information they provide will be crucial for the operation of what is soon to take shape here in southern Namibia: one of the five largest hydrogen plants in the world. It is to include 500 wind turbines and 40 square kilometers of solar panels – and will be an investment that is equal to the country’s entire gross domestic product.
ANZEIGE
The project is being celebrated in Berlin and Windhoek as a game-changer, a giant step towards a clean-energy fture. Green hydrogen, after all, is seen as a sustainable replacement for fossil fuels, and experts say that Africa is perfectly situated for its production, primarily because of the vast quantities of solar and wind power available. After all, producing hydrogen from water through the process of electrolysis requires a huge amount of electricity.
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The German energy company Enertrag is heading up the project as part of a joint venture called Hyphen Hydrogen Energy. In late May, the company signed a feasibility and implementation agreement with the Namibian government, with production slated to begin in 2027 of a million tons per year of green ammonia, a derivative produced from green hydrogen. Before that happens, Hyphen must find a suitable site and complete and review the environmental impact.
Elwin Gaoseb, pesonal assistant to the mayor of Lüderitz, stands in front of the metal masts that will hold various weather sensors.
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Elwin Gaoseb, personal assistant to the mayor of Lüderitz, stands in front of the metal masts that will hold various weather sensors. Foto: Tommy Trenchard / DER SPIEGEL
Elwin Gaoseb, personal assistant to the mayor of Lüderitz, pushes up his sunglasses, lights a cigarette and takes a close look at the masts. Turning to a worker, he asks if they were produced in Namibia. “No, they’re from South Africa,” comes the answer. “Can’t we make things like that too?” Gaoseb mumbles to himself.
It’s a critical question, and one that many others are also asking themselves: How can Namibia profit from this project? And how might Lüderitz benefit, a town where German troops once operated a deadly concentration camp in their war of extermination against the Nama and Herero during colonial rule, which ultimately turned into genocide .
Tommy Trenchard / DER SPIEGEL