Federal Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger recently travelled to Southern Africa with a delegation of German experts from the DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. and the ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research to look into the development of a hydrogen economy in Namibia and South Africa.
The goal of the expedition was to examine the prospects for exporting green hydrogen to Germany.
The experts investigated the optimal environments for producing green hydrogen and its derivatives, such as ammonia and aviation fuel, when they were in Cape Town and Windhoek. Also, they penned the first export contracts with businesses in Europe. The Federal Minister introduced the Youth for Green Hydrogen Scholarship Program in Namibia and provided funding for four pilot projects.
The experts met with the Western Cape Province’s Premier on their visit to South Africa to discuss the possibilities of using the findings from the GreeN-H2 Namibia project there. In northern Namibia, they took part in the groundbreaking for the Daures Green Hydrogen Village.
For the following 2.5 years, the GreeN-H2 Namibia project will be developed to examine many facets of Namibia’s production, conversion, and transportation of green hydrogen. The purpose of the study is to look into the possibility for a green hydrogen sector, including locally available cutting-edge seawater desalination techniques and the potential for exporting hydrogen to Germany. As part of its plan to increase worldwide hydrogen cooperation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the study.
In order to foster interdisciplinary research in chemical engineering, process engineering, and biotechnology, DECHEMA and ISOE bring together professionals from many fields. They offer assistance with socio-ecological effects and change management in addition to technical aspects of hydrogen production and water management. Their goal is to impart information to all parties involved in the green hydrogen value chain.
