The African Development Bank has approved a $10 million loan to Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a Namibian green hydrogen development company, to support a green ammonia project valued at over $10 billion.
The project has the potential to position Namibia as a pioneer in the global green hydrogen economy.
The loan, sourced from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), will support front-end engineering design studies for solar and wind generation, battery energy storage systems, electrolyser capacity, and desalination infrastructure. This will de-risk the project and attract the financing required for its realisation.
SEFA is a multi-donor Special Fund that provides catalytic finance to unlock private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. SEFA offers technical assistance and concessional finance instruments to remove market barriers, build a pipeline of projects, and improve the risk-return profile of individual investments.
The project is poised to leverage Namibia’s world-class solar and wind energy resources. The first phase includes 3.75 GW of renewable energy generation, battery storage, 1.5 GW of electrolyser capacity, and supporting infrastructure such as desalination facilities, pipelines, transmission lines, and enhanced port facilities—all developed to high environmental and social standards.
Once completed, the project is projected to produce 2 million tons of green ammonia annually for export to key markets, while contributing to local economic development under a comprehensive socio-economic development plan embedded in the project’s 40-year concession agreement.
The project will avert annual emissions of 5 million tons of CO2—the equivalent of removing over 1 million cars from the road, deploy 7.5 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity, more than 10 times Namibia’s current installed capacity, and
supply 3 million liters of clean water through desalination daily to the water-scarce region of Lüderitz in Southern Namibia
Moono Mupotola, African Development Bank Country Manager for Namibia and Deputy Director General for Southern Africa, said: “This is about far more than energy infrastructure. This is about demonstrating Africa’s capacity to lead the global energy transition, create quality jobs for our youth, and build prosperity while protecting our planet. Namibia is showing the world that Africa is not just participating in the green economy—we are defining it.”
Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, said: “The African Development Bank’s approval of this pre-investment facility represents a strong vote of confidence in Hyphen’s project and in Namibia’s ambitions to develop one of the world’s most transformative green hydrogen projects.”
Daniel Schroth, Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the African Development Bank, said: “SEFA’s intervention is catalytic. By supporting these essential pre-investment activities, we are unlocking billions in project financing. This is a strategic, high-impact development project.”
The project is expected to generate 15,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent positions, with 90% reserved for Namibian nationals and 20% targeting youth. The Hyphen project is viewed as a flagship of the government’s Southern Corridor Development Initiative and is expected to have a demonstration effect across Africa.
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