idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The project Green-H2 Namibia released a report that offers an overview of the country’s ambitions and potentials of becoming a major producer of green hydrogen. Moreover, the report outlines hydrogen demands and production costs on a global level and reflects on Namibia’s role as a green hydrogen exporter.
Namibia has one of the largest renewable energy potentials worldwide, which is ideal for the production of low-cost green hydrogen. The government of Namibia is eager to accelerate the country’s economic growth through the export of green hydrogen derivatives and published its goals in the “Green Hydrogen and Derivatives Strategy”. The strategy sets a production goal of 1-2 Mt until 2030 and 10-15 Mt of green hydrogen equivalents until 2050. However, a major hurdle is the lack of industrial infrastructure in the country to reach the ambitious endeavors. The report by GreeN-H2 Namibia puts Namibia’s green hydrogen efforts into a global context and displays the main cost factors for exports.
Currently, the production costs of green hydrogen of 4-9 USD per kg hydrogen are still comparatively high (1-2.5 USD per kg hydrogen from the conventional route). However, these costs will be reduced via technological advancements to optimize the cost-efficiency and economy of scale effects. And an additional important cost factor is electricity cost that can be significantly low in Namibia due to the high renewable energy potential.
Assumptions about the average photovoltaic potential for Namibia ranges between 2,150 and 2,450 kWh/m2/a while the wind potential for the port areas Walvis Bay and Lüderitz are estimated to be 3,047 kWh/m2/a and 4,936 kWh/m²/a, respectively. It is estimated that in 2030, around 227 kt of green hydrogen can be produced in Omaruru, Walvis Bay and Lüderitz together.
However, an often-neglected aspect is the impact of transport costs. Depending on the transport medium and the distance the imported green hydrogen can be twice as expensive compared to its production costs. This cost increase is caused by energy intensive conversion processes that liquify hydrogen or convert it into other liquid carriers to reach higher energy density. "Long-distance transportation becomes more feasible when conversion steps are reduced” says co-author Dr. Chokri Boumrifak. “Therefore, it becomes imperative to focus on products that can be further processed with higher value”. Most of Namibia’s green hydrogen projects will produce ammonia which can be transported in a liquid form. In these cases, it would be favorable to utilize the ammonia as an intermediate for chemicals or fertilizers instead of cracking the compound to regain the hydrogen.
Various pilot projects in Namibia are either in planning or construction phase. These projects will demonstrate numerous hydrogen value chains, such as hydrogen as a fuel in locomotive transportation and for power generation, green ammonia, and green iron. Some of these projects aim to reach industrial scale after a successful demonstration. In total, these projects aim to produce at least 650 kt of green hydrogen per year. To achieve the goals of the strategy for 2030, additional production capacities are requiered.
Since Namibia is not largely industrialized, the emerging green hydrogen industry is confronted with a greenfield environment. For this reason, the first projects need to overcome the hurdles in cost reduction, development of standards and infrastructure expansion. Despite these challenges Namibia has ideal requirements to produce high quantities of low-cost green hydrogen with abundant solar and wind energy.
About the project partners
The project GreeN-H2-Namibia is a collaborative effort between DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. and the ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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.
https://dechema.de/green_hydrogen_namibia_report.html
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