Hyphen targets N$54bn in local spending as Namibia's green hydrogen project regroups

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has pledged to spend N$54 billion — about 30% of its more than $10 billion project cost — with Namibian companies on its green hydrogen and ammonia development in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park, as the project works toward a final investment decision still targeted for 2026. Hyphen chief executive Marco Raffinetti said the company "made a commitment to the Government of Namibia to drive local content," describing the local-spend target as being "about building industrial capacity, skills and supply chains," while senior manager Johannes Shipepe said the company was working to "identify capable suppliers and support them to meet project standards."

To back that commitment, Hyphen has run an Enterprise and Supplier Development programme that has assessed more than 400 Namibian companies across engineering, construction, logistics and processing, building a pipeline of contractors it hopes can meet the project's technical and compliance requirements.

A setback, then a reset

The local-content push comes months after German utility RWE withdrew, in September 2025, from a non-binding memorandum of understanding under which it had planned to import around 300,000 tonnes a year of ammonia from Hyphen from 2027, citing slower-than-expected growth in European hydrogen demand. Hyphen described the RWE arrangement as only an exploratory offtake understanding rather than a binding contract, and has continued preparing the project for a final investment decision.

Scaling toward full production

Hyphen's phased plan envisages one million tonnes a year of green ammonia production by 2028, scaling to two million tonnes by 2030, produced using renewable electricity from wind and solar facilities feeding electrolysers on the Namibian coast near Lüderitz. The African Development Bank has separately approved a $10 million loan to fund front-end engineering and design studies covering solar and wind generation, battery storage, electrolyser capacity and desalination infrastructure — work intended to de-risk the project and support the financing needed to reach a final investment decision.

For Namibia's broader ambitions to become a hydrogen exporter and to use cheap renewable power to support green iron and other mineral-processing industries, Hyphen's progress — or lack of it — through 2026 will be an important signal of whether the country's flagship project can attract the offtake commitments and financing it still needs, after losing one of its earliest prospective customers.

Sources

• Mining & Energy (Namibia): Hyphen targets N$54bn local spend as Namibia hydrogen project advances, 13 Apr 2026
• FurtherAfrica: Namibia's Green Hydrogen Drive Faces New Challenges, 30 Sept 2025

Photo: The Sperrgebiet restricted diamond area on Namibia's southern coast, near the Tsau Khaeb National Park site of the Hyphen green hydrogen project. Hp.Baumeler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.