Namibia’s green hydrogen: strong winds, slow offtake
Despite strong renewable potential and German support, Namibia’s green hydrogen ambitions risk stalling due to legal gaps, weak infrastructure, and costly export logistics.
Three years into Namibia’s green hydrogen plans, as Namibia still operates without a dedicated energy law and the necessary infrastructure, new reports have cast shadows over the feasibility of transporting green ammonia from Africa to international markets.
An article titled, “Why SA is not ready to produce green hydrogen,” published in February 2025 by the University of Witwatersrand, highlight the high volumes of freshwater needed for green hydrogen production and the significant energy losses during conversion of green hydrogen to ammonia for storage and transportation.
“Hydrogen is also very difficult to transport across the ocean. This means there is no chance of big green hydrogen exports happening in the short to medium term. Hydrogen, including green hydrogen, can only be moved around through expensive specialized pipelines, or by being compressed using extreme pressure. Other ways to move it include first converting it into other chemicals like ammonia, or converting it to liquid form at -253°C.”
The report also added that, “Up to 48% of the energy content can be lost in transportation alone through compression, liquefaction, conversion to carriers like ammonia or methanol, and pipeline or shipping inefficiencies, all of which require significant energy input. Producing one kilogram of green hydrogen needs up to 30 litres of fresh water. This means that desalination or water recycling plants will be needed if green hydrogen hubs are set up in water scarce areas.”
Namibia’s Offer
Meanwhile, the “Mapping the cost competitiveness of African green hydrogen imports to Europe” report published in April this year, points out that Germany’s partnership could help Namibia compete globally in green hydrogen by reducing risk, lowering investment costs, and attracting international capital.
However, without real reforms and legal clarity in Namibia, these benefits may remain theoretical.
The report suggests that a few African locations, including some in Namibia, could reach competitive export costs by 2030, but only with European policy de-risking.
The mapping report further highlights that Namibia emerges as one of the few African countries with coastal zones where the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) for export to Europe could potentially reach competitive levels by 2030.
The Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) refers to the average cost of producing one kilogram of hydrogen over the entire lifespan of a project, including all expenses like equipment, operations, maintenance, and financing.
This means the country is poised to achieve green hydrogen export costs as low as €3.8/kgH₂, which aligns with projected European import prices.
However, without policy support, Namibia’s LCOH remains uncompetitive at around €4.9/kgH₂ or higher, reflecting the high cost of capital and infrastructure.
This means Namibia's projected green hydrogen export prices could range from around N$76 to N$98 per kilogram, depending on policy support and infrastructure development.
“Irrespective of the interest rate environment, the lowest-cost locations for green hydrogen production without de-risking are mainly in Morocco and Algeria, due to their relatively good institutional quality, exceptional wind resources and relative proximity to Rotterdam. With de-risking, the lowest-cost locations shift to Mauritania with a few in Algeria and Namibia,” the report states.
Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania are prime for large-scale green hydrogen projects because their North African location offers abundant solar and wind resources, vast land, and close proximity to Europe, which lowers transport costs and supports export opportunities.
The report further states countries with stronger industrial bases like Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya, would be seen as more ideal while countries like Mauritania and Namibia face challenges because they lack the industrial setup needed to fully benefit from green hydrogen production.
Meanwhile, as Namibia prepares to host the 2025 Global African Hydrogen Summit in September, another report, titled Drivers for Development of an Export Industry for Green Ammonia from Africa Part II, raises serious potential impediments to the country’s green hydrogen export ambitions.
According to the report , a key challenge for African producers looking to Europe or Asia for exports, given both the distances involved and the physical nature of the product, is transport and delivery of hydrogen.
The report pointed out challenges for long-distance transportation given the gaseous nature of Green Hydrogen.
“The practical and economic challenges of implementing new pipelines crossing borders, bodies of water and over long distances mean this is unlikely to be adopted for exports of green hydrogen from Africa,” the report said.
The report also flagged the use of new pipelines for African exports as unrealistic, citing the high cost and the difficulty of crossing borders and oceans.
“The high cost of building new pipelines or repurposing existing pipeline has driven interest in developing shipping routes for hydrogen. Transporting hydrogen in its natural state is not cost-effective due to the large volumes needed, given hydrogen’s low volume density. As a result, various methods have emerged to transport hydrogen in a more compact, liquefied form, including liquefied hydrogen, ammonia, and Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC).”
The report, however, noted that exports might still be a reality, with the EU investing in ammonia cracking infrastructure in countries like Germany and the Netherlands, however, even this route faces challenges due to significant energy losses during the reconversion process.
“Green ammonia can be ‘cracked’ back to hydrogen following transport and storage, but this does lead to high conversion losses. Alternatively, it can be used directly as a low-carbon fuel in the marine sector or in renewable electricity generation.”
Three large scale ammonia crackers are currently being planned in the Netherlands and Germany to convert imported green ammonia back into green hydrogen to support the EU’s hydrogen import targets.
No energy law
Jona Musheko, manager for external affairs and communication for the Green Hydrogen Project confirmed that Namibia still does not have a dedicated energy law in place and currently regulates various gases such as ammonia, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, argon, helium, nitrogen, acetylene, propane under the Road Traffic and Transportation Act, 1999.
“The Road Traffic and Transport Regulations under this Act contain regulations on the transportation of dangerous goods under Chapter 6, Part 4. For all intends and purposes, it can be concluded that transportation of green hydrogen and ammonia by road and rail is regulated.”
On the other hand, he said a pre-feasibility study on a cross-border hydrogen pipeline infrastructure between Namibia and South Africa has been successfully concluded early this year.
In addition, a consortium of stakeholders, including Gasunie, Climate Fund Managers, the Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme (NGH2P), Wesgro, and the Northern Cape Economic Development Agency (NCEDA), is reported to have committed to develop a conceptual master plan.
“This phase will further define the technical parameters, routing options, and potential delivery mechanisms of the proposed pipeline, thereby laying the groundwork for future investment and implementation. We view this collaboration as a significant milestone in regional energy integration and a catalyst for unlocking large-scale green hydrogen trade between Namibia and South Africa,” Musheko said.