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The African continent has the potential to harmonise its industrialisation to become a global powerhouse of green manufactured products
As part of Namibia’s COP28 program, the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), and the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF)announce the inauguration of the Global African Hydrogen Summit (GAh2S). The Summit themed ‘From Ambition to Action’ is scheduled to take place in Windhoek, Namibia from 03 – 05 September 2024.
Fuelling Africa’s Green Industrial Revolution, the three-day Summit will convene heads of state, government agencies, industry business leaders, project developers, investors, thought leaders, and technologists from across Africa and around the globe to drive critical investments and financing into bankable green energy projects. Project and investment showcases will span the hydrogen, renewables, power, infrastructure, transportation, and mobility sectors.
GAh2S will focus on the global role Africa expects to play in the hydrogen market and will facilitate collaboration and advance dialogue across policy, investment, and the emerging hydrogen value chain. The continent has the potential to harmonise its industrialisation to become a global powerhouse of green manufactured products, whilst applying a localised multiplier effect, stimulating in-continent value including employment creation, ancillary industries, light manufacturing, and natural resource refining – uplifting economies across Africa, whilst sustainably bringing an end to energy poverty.
Clean hydrogen can cover a significant portion of the global energy transition needs, especially in hard-to-abate sectors and industries such as steel manufacturing and aviation. Several African countries—most notably Egypt, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa—are actively pursuing clean hydrogen production. These countries formed the collective Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance in May 2023 to collaborate on capacity creation, financing, certification, and regulatory and policy agendas for green hydrogen development in Africa. A McKinsey & Company report projects that by 2050, the annual investment required will more than double to US$160 billion, with the focus of investment likely shifting to an expected 43% of capital expenditure spent on hydrogen.
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Namibia, the host location for the inaugural edition of GAh2S, has a unique potential to enable low-cost green hydrogen production due to the abundance of its solar and wind energy resources as well as the availability of unpopulated land. It is currently investing in the research and development of green hydrogen technologies, through engagement of, and support from, foreign institutions and partner countries like Germany. In May 2023, the government of Namibia and Hyphen Hydrogen Energy announced a deal for the next phase of a US$10 billion green hydrogen project that will export green molecules to Europe once complete. Long-term offtake agreements are expected in this case. The development of a stable green hydrogen market has the potential to facilitate investment in skills for the domestic workforce, enhance local job creation, and thus uplift livelihoods.
