The Republic of Namibia in south-west Africa planned to become the first carbon-neutral nation on the continent and to serve as the continent’s sustainability centre.
François van Schalkwyk, the executive director of the Namibia Investment Promotion & Development Board, made this point on Wednesday. He was speaking at the Africa Energy Indaba’s side event, the Invest in Namibia Roundtable, which was taking place in the Cape Town International Convention Center.
The national electrical utility of the country, NamPower, stated in an address to the same roundtable that the company began its first renewable energy project ten years ago. Presently, the nation must import 50% to 60%, and occasionally even 70%, of its electricity from Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, who are its neighbors. Yet Namibia now had 160 MW of renewable energy capacity online (produced by IPPs, or independent power producers), with an additional 214 MW planned (that will be produced by both IPPs and NamPower). Both wind and solar power plants were used in these green initiatives.
Van Schalkwyk emphasized that producing green hydrogen and ammonia would be one of the main uses of renewable energy in Namibia. Green hydrogen production was slated to start in 2026. By 2030, the first large-scale facility should be fully operating. It could create up to 300,000 t/y of green hydrogen and/or ammonia and would have a 5 GW capacity renewable energy source, along with 3 GW from electrolysis.
