Geingob impressed with green hydrogen developments in Erongo
By Adolf Kaure.
Namibian President HE Dr Hage Geingob expressed his satisfaction with the progress on the green hydrogen developments in the Erongo Region during his recent visit.
The President concluded his tour of the Erongo Green Hydrogen Valley to assess progress in the development of the green industrialization agenda as outlined in the goals of the Harambee Prosperity Plan II (HPP2).
The projects visited by Geingob included Cleanergy Solutions Namibia, Hydrogen De France, NamPort and Orano Desalination.
This was done to understand the operational activities of these projects and their potential contribution to socio-economic upliftment.
“I am pleased to learn that Namibians are moving on to new and greater things,” he remarked.
“When we took over, we had to navigate severe droughts, an economic downturn and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit us.”
“I am happy to leave the country in better shape than we found it,” said Geingob.
The strategic utilisation of Namibia’s abundant natural resources like renewable energy sourced from wind and solar, is facilitating the production of green hydrogen, a crucial ingredient for clean fuels.
Furthermore, green hydrogen can augment the value of specific commodities, such as iron ore, essential for direct reduction of iron used in steel, and minerals like rare earths and lithium, vital for the production of permanent magnets and lithium-ion batteries, all key elements of the energy transition.
Highlights of the Presidential tour encompassed the Cleanergy Hydrogen service station, Africa’s pioneering public facility to make hydrogen available to vehicle that are anticipated to run on hydrogen at some vague point in the future.
The tour further underscored the critical role of renewable energy, combined with battery storage and clean hydrogen, in providing consistent ‘base load’ energy to communities.
Similarly, desalination is set to increase manifold to support the intended massive scale of hydrogen production.
The Erongo region possesses all the necessary prerequisites to realise the vision for green industrialization.
Besides its natural endowments, strategic government investments have ensured the region boasts good infrastructure for cost-effective product transport and export.
His Excellency’s tour of Erongo delved into these concepts in detail, illustrating how the pursuit of a Green Industrialization Agenda is an essential accelerator to achieve Vision 2030.
