German Minister of Economic Affairs, Habeck, is currently on a trip to Africa. In southern Namibia, the focus is on a key energy source of the future: green hydrogen. The country offers enormous potential for green electricity generation from wind and solar power.

Green hydrogen is expected to gradually replace fossil energy sources such as gas, oil, and coal in Europe. The State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Patrick Graichen, believes that by 2030, a double-digit number of countries will be exporting green electricity and energy to Germany.

German companies as first movers in the hydrogen sector

This presents a huge opportunity, especially for countries in Africa and the Middle East. German companies are already active in the field of future energy.

For example, the company Enertrag has already built a pilot plant for green hydrogen production based on wind energy in Brandenburg, Germany. 600 company-owned wind turbines are already in operation for this purpose.

However, the natural conditions for wind power generation in Namibia are much better than in Germany. In the North Sea, an average wind speed of around eight meters per second will be reached at the same height. In the Namibian desert, it is between eleven and twelve meters at the same height. The result: the generation costs of one kilowatt-hour of electricity from wind power there are only two cents.

For this reason, Enertrag is planning the ten-billion-dollar project Hyphen in southern Namibia. Over the next few years, two huge solar power plants and around 600 wind turbines will be built in the area, which is 100 kilometers long and 80 kilometers wide. The power capacity is enormous: the plant is expected to generate almost seven gigawatts, equivalent to seven large nuclear reactors.

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