The French independent power producer (IPP) HDF Energy has announced a green hydrogen project near the city of Swakopmund in Namibia. Its facilities are expected to be operational by 2024.

Namibia is increasingly attracting investors in the nascent green hydrogen industry. This is the case of the French company HDF Energy, which is developing a project near the city of Swakopmund, in the Erongo region. The project involves the construction of an 85 MWp solar photovoltaic power plant. This electricity will be converted into hydrogen in an electrolysis unit.

“We can produce 142 GWh annually, enough for 142 000 inhabitants, and that is a conservative estimate,” explains Nicolas Lecomte, HDF Energy’s director for Southern Africa. The company, based in the Gironde department of France, plans to invest N$3.1 billion (US$178.4 million). HDF will use Namibia’s solar potential to participate in the implementation of the partnership signed between this southern African country and the European Union (EU) for the development of the green hydrogen industry.