King Phillipe of Belgium visited Namibia in the first week of May 2024 and together with Namibian president Nangolo Mbumba inaugurated the first green hydrogen fuel station and production plant in the country.
This historic event in Walvis Bay is the realisation of an agreement between Begium and Namibia signed in 2021 at the climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow to develop the green hydrogen industry.
The company CMB-Tech, a subsidiary of the Belgian shipping giant Cie Maritime Belge SA, (CMB) in Antwerp and Namibia`s Ohlthaver & List Group formed a joint venture to develop green hydrogen fuel in Namibia to be used locally and for export.
President Nangolo Mbumba and King of Belgium noted that the “Cleanergy Solutions” initiative made Namibia a frontrunner in the global green hydrogen economy.
“This project is a groundbreaking demonstration of pioneering hydrogen production in Africa,” said King Phillipe, “it aims to demonstrate that green hydrogen and ammonia can be produced efficiently and on the basis of renewable energy source.”
Construction of the plant started last year. It uses solar energy from its own new solar plant to produce hydrogen on site. It will supply hydrogen to trucks which will run on dual fuel, port equipment, small ships like tugs and – medium term – locomotives of the state-owned company TransNamib, which will be equipped to run on diesel and GH2 ammonia.
CMB intends to invest around 3 billion US$ in the next five years in the Namibian plant. The shipping company plans to import the green ammonia from Namibia to fuel its own shipping fleet.
King Phillipe was accompanied by a Belgian business delegation.
Brigitte Weidlich
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