Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN), Namibian Ports Authority (NamPort), NamPower, the Port of Rotterdam (PoR), Gasunie and Invest International to create a partnership to drive the delivery of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest, and only, fully vertically-integrated, green H₂ project.

The agreement comes on the same day as GRN announced it would exercise its right to take up a 24% equity interest in the Hyphen project at historical cost. The investment will be held through SDG Namibia One a bespoke blended financing infrastructure fund, which will look to raise money from local institutional investors and investors from around the world to develop Namibian green H₂ projects and related infrastructure.

The establishment of Namibia SDG Namibia One will see Namibia’s Environment Investment Fund partnering with two Dutch organizations, Climate Fund Managers and Invest International in the establishment of NH2 Fund Managers as the fund manager of SDG Namibia One. 100% of the initial funding of €40 MM is being provided as grant funding by Invest International and will be housed by the fund. The European Investment Bank and the Government concluded a letter of intent at COP27 for the raising of €500 MM, a portion of which is to be proposed to be designated for investment via SDG Namibia One.

Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen, said, “The MoU we signed today and Government’s commitments to the green H₂ industry show that Namibia is moving at pace to establish itself as a leader in the global green H₂ race. We are now focused on working with all partners to design the infrastructure and services needed in Namibia to meet the projects timelines and meet Namibia’s development objectives.

“Government taking up its equity interest in the project and establishing a blending finance fund as innovative as SDG Namibia One is another huge step forward for a country that is ensuring all its people benefit from this project in a sustainable and just way. This comes just weeks after Hyphen and Government signed a landmark agreement that will govern how the project will be delivered. I believe that Namibia is setting the global benchmark for the development of large scale sustainable green H₂ projects.”

The MoU builds on the existing relationship between NamPort, PoR and Hyphen in the development of the new master plan for the port of Lüderitz which had been underway for over a year and will be completed in the coming months. Under the MoU the parties will work together, sharing their collective knowledge and expertise in the design of the infrastructure necessary to deliver on Namibia’s green H₂ production ambitions.

NamPower and Hyphen are also investigating the possibility of the supply of excess electricity generated by the project to NamPower and how this could assist NamPower in improving Namibia’s energy security whilst simultaneously contributing to the decarbonizing its electricity system.

GRN also announced today the establishment of the Implementation Authority Office to facilitate and accelerate the development and implementation of Namibia’s synthetic fuels industry with funding for the office being provided by grants from Invest International and the EU.