• Namibia plans to use green hydrogen to decarbonize its economy.

• Green hydrogen is an essential source of foreign investment.

In a bid to produce green hydrogen from wave energy, Finnish wave technology AW-Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Namibia’s Kaoko Green Energy Solutions concurring an initiative for this purpose. The Agreement includes AW-Energy making available its technology for the development of a project for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and comes on the back of AW-Energy’s latest advancement of its WaveRoller technology.

The project will be operated in three phases; the first phase will include site design that covers creating and deploying a wave farm on the coast of Swakopmund in Namibia to deliver renewable power to support in-land resettlement and development. The second phase will ascertain the capacity for wave farms in several other locations in Namibia, while the third and final stage will expand the developed wave energy plants to deliver power to the country’s power grid as well as provide energy for desalination and green hydrogen projects.

Namibia is hoping to become a green hydrogen superpower in the future decade by positioning itself as an international exporter of green hydrogen. CEO of AW-Energy, Christopher Ridgewell explained that “with an energetic and consistent wave resource Namibia is very well positioned to utilize the benefits of wave energy to enable sustainable industry and jobs”. 

Director for Kaoko Green Energy Solutions, Sacky Nalusha said “It is an open secret that the energy sector in southern Africa is currently underdeveloped, creating opportunities for innovative solutions and partnerships that can grow the sector. The current energy shortages in the region have paved the way to explore alternative, untapped, and sustainable energy sources. Ocean waves have the potential to provide a sustainable solution to our energy needs and demands.”

The Namibian government intends to use green hydrogen to decarbonize the economy, as it will be an essential source of foreign investment and be of great importance to the country’s energy security and transition. The country’s Green Hydrogen Council launched its green hydrogen strategy at COP27 as part of its government’s plan to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 which is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The development of the domestic workforce to increase domestic employment is a crucial component of the nation’s growth in clean energy.

The WaveRoller WaveFarms from AW-Energy is among the most cutting-edge wave energy technology products on the market. The WaveRoller wave energy converters, the entire WaveFarm infrastructure, logistics, life-cycle services, product documentation, and everything else a customer needs to produce domestic steady renewable clean energy have all been put together into an industrial package.