idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The GreeN-H2-Namibia project – a collaboration between DECHEMA German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and ISOE Institute for Social-Ecological Research and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) – has published a fact-based report on the water resource management in Namibia’s Central Hydrogen Valley in the Erongo Region. The report aims to support decision makers by strengthening the foundation for proactive and integrated planning before infrastructure expansion and green hydrogen growth outpace governance.
Namibia’s Central Hydrogen Valley in the Erongo Region is advancing quickly, with Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Arandis and Uis forming the core coastal corridor for green hydrogen, mining and logistics. As industrial activity accelerates, the region faces growing pressure on water supply, infrastructure planning and governance. Without a clear overview of future water demand and a coordinated plan for meeting it, the Erongo Region risks costly duplication of desalination infrastructure, higher tariffs, and increased pressure on sensitive coastal ecosystems.
The report, “Perspectives for Integrated Water Management in Namibia's Central Hydrogen Valley”, compiles more than 100 sources of scattered data to present the current water supply and demand context along Walvis Bay-Swakopmund-Arandis-Uis corridor. It outlines existing water infrastructure capacities, possible constraints, industrial (green hydrogen and mining) demand trends and the multiple desalination developments currently under consideration. By placing these developments side by side, the report highlights key questions regarding operational security, costs and financial sustainability, and long-term supply planning.
“Decisions on desalination, infrastructure and governance need to be made with a clear, shared picture of the future demand the Erongo Region could be facing,” emphasizes Katie Carter, water resources project manager at DECHEMA and lead author of the report.
Several initiatives to add desalination capacity in the region are under way, the largest of which is the planned joint venture desalination plant between NamWater and Swakop Uranium (Pty) Ltd. The report cautions that without coordinated planning, these projects could lead to inefficiencies that fail to improve the security or equity of water supply. To this end, the authors propose three key recommendations:
1) Liberalise the water market, drawing lessons from Namibia’s energy sector reforms;
2) Enable integrated planning and development of shared infrastructure through industrial hubs; and
3) Strengthen multi-level stakeholder engagement to support integrated water planning.
This report follows one published in August 2025 by the same authors focused on the ||Kharas Region, Namibia’s Southern Hydrogen Valley (see https://dechema.de/en/About+DECHEMA/Press/Press+Releases/25_2025++Berichte+Green...). To complement that report, the authors developed an interactive Excel-based water demand calculator for Lüderitz and Aus based on available data and key assumptions. This tool is now available for download on the project website and can help decision makers and planners determine required infrastructure capacities in coordination with green hydrogen development.
Together, these updates provide a foundation for Namibia’s national and regional planning processes, helping ensure that industrialisation in both hydrogen valleys strengthens, rather than jeopardizes, long-term water security.
The report and the Excel-based water demand calculator can both be downloaded on the project website: https://dechema.de/GreeNH2_Namibia.html
About the project partners
DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. brings together experts from different disciplines, institutions and generations to promote scientific exchange in chemical engineering, process engineering and biotechnology. DECHEMA searches for new technological trends, evaluates them and accompanies the implementation of research results in technical applications. More than 5,500 engineers, scientists, students, companies and institutions belong to the non-profit association.
ISOE (Institute for Social-Ecological Research) is one of the leading independent institutes for sustainability research. It develops scientific foundations and forward-looking concepts for socio-ecological transformations. To this end, ISOE conducts transdisciplinary research on global problems such as water scarcity, climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation, and finds viable solutions that take into account ecological, social and economic conditions.
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