'Green' village blossoms in the desert
Construction progressing at Daures
Germany's education and research ministry donated around N$220 million to finance the first phase of the development.
At least 50 km from the nearest settlement, in the heart of the hot Tsiseb conservancy under the jurisdiction of the Daure Daman Traditional Authority, a new "green" village is taking shape.The Daures Green Hydrogen Village is being built in the middle of the desert due to the strong winds that constantly blow across the open plains in this area.
Jerome Namaseb is the CEO of the consortium and a founding member of Enersense Energy Namibia, which owns 90% of this ambitious development. The traditional authority owns 7.5% of the project, and the Tsiseb conservancy has a 2.5% share. In partnership with the Scientific Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management in Southern Africa (SASSCAL) and through the relationship between the Namibian and German governments, Germany's education and research ministry donated 12.1 million euros - around N$220 million - to finance the first phase of the giant development.
According to Namaseb, around 66% of the construction work has already been completed, with a second 130 meter long meteorological tower erected, construction of greenhouses with drip irrigation systems which is already 5% ahead of schedule and establishment of the electrolyser (which uses energy from the sun to splitting water into its atoms and creating hydrogen) which is also 6% ahead of schedule. Furthermore, the 162 employees on the construction site of around 300 hectares - out of the project area which covers a total of 1 500 ha - are making rapid progress with setting up laboratories, twelve housing units, seven borehole dams, a 0.88 megawatt (MW) solar power plant, 0.1 MW of wind turbines, and an electrolyser plant of 0.25 MW as well as a reverse osmosis facility to produce 18 tons of green hydrogen annually from the brackish drilling water. With this, 100 tons of ammonia will be produced per year, and finally the first ammonium sulfate for fertilizer will be produced there by next year.
Between 2024 and 2027, fertilizer production must increase drastically when 6.7 MW of solar power, 5.1 MW of wind power and the electrolyser's capacity of 5 MW will be harnessed to produce 602 tons of hydrogen, 3 500 tons of ammonia and 35 000 tons of ammonium sulfate on a produce on an annual basis. After that, between 2029 and 2032, the plan is to increase the capacity to 420 MW of solar power and 590 MW of wind power to drive the 420 MW electrolyser and thus be able to produce 121 000 tons of hydrogen and 352 000 tons of ammonia per year. After 2032, the project aims to increase solar power capacity to 840 MW, generate 1.18 gigawatts (GW) of wind power and commission an 840 MW electrolyser to produce 240,000 tons of hydrogen and 700,000 tons of green ammonia for export purposes .
The first phase will initially require up to 70 cubic meters (m³) of water per day, and later 50 m³ per day, which will be supplied through the boreholes. Only three of the seven boreholes are sufficient for these requirements. At the same time, the design of the town is progressing to bring a final investment decision closer, wind data is being measured and ammonia production and the generation of renewable energy are being boosted to make production costs competitive in the region and the international market by 2030.
The initial electrolyser is expected to be commissioned by February next year and the entire plant should be operational by June 2024, Namaseb said.
The head of the Daure Daman Traditional Authority, Zacharias Seibeb, says the project is progressing well and he called on all Namibians to support the development. He says it offers a new opportunity in green hydrogen which, if it is carried out successfully, will be a big advantage for all Namibians. If the project fails, it will be a failure for all Namibians, he opined. - [email protected]