Namibia and South Africa have signed a memorandum of understanding to study the feasibility of building Africa’s first cross-country green hydrogen pipeline.
The memorandum was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
President Nangolo Mbumba revealed this during his keynote address on Tuesday.
Mbumba said the memorandum includes Namibia’s green hydrogen programme, the Western Cape Development Agency (Wesgro), the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (NCEDA), and Gasunie, the Netherlands’ leading hydrogen backbone developer.
“This partnership aims to study the feasibility of building Africa’s first cross-country green hydrogen pipeline, connecting Namibia and South Africa, and facilitating significant trade of a new product between our two countries,” Mbumba said.
According to Mbumba, Namibia, like many African countries, views the 21st century as a potentially transformative era for the continent.
“In this era, we can utilise new, greener, and cleaner technologies to leapfrog towards industrialisation and subsequent economic transformation.
“This will enable us to create jobs, significantly reduce poverty, and build inclusive, peaceful, and stable societies that will give rise to genuine and lasting progress,” he said.
He also said that the government, through the Green Hydrogen Council, has worked tirelessly over the past few years to position Namibia as the primary leader in the global green hydrogen market.
“We are now starting to see concrete, visible results.
Namibia hosts nine hydrogen projects across two developing hydrogen valleys,” he said.
Mbumba told the delegates that green hydrogen offers opportunities beyond clean molecule production; it holds the potential to anchor new industries in emerging markets worldwide.
Namibia, he explained, has always desired to become an indispensable logistics hub for the Southern African region.
“To enhance this ambition, we are now developing an ammonia bunkering hub and a green hydrogen-powered train to decarbonise shipping and long-haul logistics routes. This will ensure that goods and commodities transported via our port infrastructure minimise scope two and scope three emissions.
“This will not only increase the competitiveness of Walvis Bay and Luderitz as harbours of choice for critical exporters and importers, but we believe it will also increase the competitiveness of our regional goods and augment the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), thereby boosting intra-African trade in the process,” he said.
