Construction of Daures green hydrogen village nears completion

A year into its inception, the Daures Green Hydrogen Village (DGHV) has shown remarkable progress, with the project about to realise its objective of producing green hydrogen and green ammonia for local consumption. The DGHV was officially launched in 2023, with N$220 million in grant assistance from the German government covering Phase one of the project.

 “We are approximately 80 percent of the way through construction with an anticipated completion date of the end of April 2024,” the chief executive officer Jerome Namaseb told President Nangolo Mbumba during a visit at State House in April.

It will be Africa’s first net zero emission village.

The project is based in the Daures constituency in the Erongo Region with the Brandberg as striking landmark in the background. With abundant sunshine and strong winds, the terrain is perfectly suited to house this an imitable model for Africa’s green hydrogen future, with a long-term vision of a thriving community of over 2 000 residents and generating one gigawatt of clean energy.

The project is executed in phases. Phase one, the pilot project with the construction of houses, eco-lodges, training centres, evaporation ponds and greenhouses is almost completed. Phase 1.5 – set to kick-off in June 2024 – will see the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia, according to Namaseb. 

“Phase two is the pilot phase, which is used for research by students from the University of Namibia and Germany’s University of Stuttgart,” he added.

Phase two – which will run from 2028 to 2032 will see exports to SADC member states and international countries from an annual output of up to 100 tonnes of green ammonia and more than 400 tonnes of green tomatoes during its pilot phase. Furthermore, Daures will be able to manufacture and export up to 700,000 tonnes of green ammonia by 2030, as it reaches the fourth phase.

To date, the project has provided jobs to over 200 persons on site. “We are proud to note that the construction phase has provided 22 small to medium enterprises [SMEs] with opportunities, of which seven were sourced from the local community,” Namaseb added.

Brigitte Weidlich