Sea access for green hydrogen
Cleanergy prepares to ship ammonia
Namibia's ambitious drive to promote and develop a national green hydrogen industry continues to gather traction.
Namibia's ambitious plans for the development of a local green hydrogen industry gained momentum in March with the announcement by Cleanergy Solutions Namibia that Environmental Compliance Consultancy has commenced with an environmental assessment for the construction of an ammonia terminal at the port of Walvis Bay.Cleanergy Solutions Namibia is a joint venture between local group Ohlthaver & List (O&L) and Belgium-based CMB.TECH, a company that supplies green hydrogen to various marine and industrial applications.
Construction plans
Cleanergy proposes to construct an ammonia terminal consisting of a double-walled, full-containment ammonia storage tank with 40 000 tonnes capacity as well as associated facilities. These facilities include a nitrogen generation unit, fire service water tanks and pumps, an emergency diesel generator and a wastewater unit.
The company wants to build a 12.7 km carbon steel ammonia pipeline from the terminal to Farm 58 near Dune 7, and an 80 km carbon steel green hydrogen pipeline between Farm 58 and Arandis, which will store 15 000 m³ of gas on a daily basis.
A solar park spanning 10 hectares, accompanied by a hydrogen production facility equipped with a 5 MW electrolyser and a 5 MWh battery, are components of the green hydrogen demonstration plant on Farm 58.
The hydrogen pipeline may run from Arandis and through Namib-Naukluft Park straight to Walvis Bay, or it will pass near Swakopmund, while the ammonia pipeline will turn at Swakopmund before continuing to the harbour further south.
Green development ongoing
Meanwhile, a major player in the push for green hydrogen in Namibia, Hyphen Energy, which won the government concession to kick-start the massive Tsau ?Khaeb National Park-based Southern Corridor Development Initiative, is partnering with experts.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) will apply innovative, precise approaches for wind field calculations to optimise yield. The area where the Hyphen wind farm will be situated is located on the coast south of Lüderitz.
By harnessing global reanalysis data sources, Fraunhofer IWES will be capable of conducting precise wind field calculations down to a few kilometres.
Enertrag, a renewable energy service provider, will furnish measurement data to be integrated into simulations, facilitating correlation and calibration with the efforts of Fraunhofer IWES.
Hyphen CEO Marco Raffinetti said: “The team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Hyphen and will help drive our project forward using innovative techniques and first-class analysis.”
Meanwhile, construction continues at Daures Green Hydrogen Village in the Erongo Region, while the research initiative aims to inaugurate its pilot facility in the second quarter of this year.
Daures management recently participated in the Green Hydrogen in Practice Symposium hosted by the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) initiative in Windhoek at the end of March.