More Investment in Hydrogen Required

Energy demand from the production of hydrogen could strain Namibia’s supply of renewable energy and may not address the high cost of energy in the foreseeable future.

This is one of the key findings of an oversight report conducted by the National Council’s standing committee on agriculture, environment and natural resources between 10 and 21 September.

“Producing 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen would require 750 terawatt hours per year in renewable energy generation. In 2020, Namibia’s renewable energy generation was 1.33 terawatt hours,” reads the report.

The government’s green hydrogen strategy sets out a production target of 10 to 15 million tonnes of hydrogen per year by 2050.

“To achieve the 2050 target, Namibia must accelerate renewable installation capacity in the years ahead,” notes the report.

The report’s authors call on the Ministry of Mines and Energy “to upgrade or renew the current grid to enable the installation of renewable energy” so that “abundant renewable power [can] be made available for domestic use, further reducing the cost of electricity, and develop regulations that will guide the same”.

“Projects are willing to transmit all the solar power they generate onto the national grid, but at present, this is not possible,” the authors note.

The report also finds that further investments in infrastructure are required to unlock the full potential of green industrialisation: “Such infrastructure enablers include railway upgrades, port expansion and power transmission lines, among others.”

The authors estimate the value of the required public investments to be US$15 billion.

Another key finding is that “Namibia’s skills market is simply not able to deliver what the green hydrogen industry requires”.

“Sectors such as logistics, transport and technical services are not able to meet the demands of the sector,” notes the report.

They call on the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, together with other stakeholders, to invest in tailor-made technical and vocational education and training programmes with priority placed on the regions where hydrogen projects are being implemented.

The report further notes: “Namibia lacks important regulations and legislation to regulate the green hydrogen industry.”

According to the authors, regulations related to the role of local content in supply chains and incentives to promote domestic demand are still missing.

Fiscal frameworks, legislation regulating exclusive economic zones, regulations on infrastructure like pipelines, coordination and harmonising of permits relating to green hydrogen, as well as occupational health and safety regulations also need development.

The Namibian government is already working on establishing a robust regulatory framework to support the green hydrogen industry and a bill is expected to come before parliament in the near future, according to the report.

The committee members are recommending the development of regulations “that will protect Namibia’s renewable energy sources and further protect consumers from the increasing energy demands that will come from the production of green hydrogen”.

Although much work remains to be done, the report concludes that “green hydrogen has the potential to decarbonise various sectors, including industry, transport and power generation”.

This could bring in substantial revenue, create jobs, drive infrastructure development and reduce the country’s carbon footprint, according to the authors.

However, the sector “must be well regulated to maximise benefits for Namibians”.