An integrated clean energy facility combining solar power, green hydrogen production and battery storage has become operational at Walvis Bay in Namibia, demonstrating the use of clean energy for industrial applications and efforts to reduce industrial emissions, The Kenyan Wall Street reported.
The CMB.TECH Namibia facility includes a 5 megawatt peak (MWp) solar park spread across 6.5 hectares, a 5 MW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser for hydrogen production and a 5.9 megawatt-hour battery storage system.
CMB.TECH, a crude oil tanker transport company, developed the facility and is using the green hydrogen produced at the site for its own industrial operations, making the company the facility’s first customer.
Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa, which provides the electrical, automation and safety systems for the site, said many green hydrogen projects were facing delays because they had invested heavily in solar power and hydrogen production without securing buyers for the hydrogen.
At the Walvis Bay facility, solar power runs the electrolyser, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. For use as marine fuel, the hydrogen can be combined with nitrogen from the air to produce ammonia, which is then converted into a liquid form.
The hydrogen produced at the facility will initially be used for local industrial applications, including dual-fuel trucks, generators and Namibia’s first hydrogen-powered freight locomotive.
The facility is expected to be expanded in the future and connected more closely with port infrastructure. This could allow ships to be refuelled with ammonia produced from green hydrogen, supporting efforts to reduce emissions from maritime transport.
Roy Campe, Chief Technology Officer at CMB.TECH, said the company plans to increase the facility’s capacity to 250 MW and eventually to 500 MW. He said the broader ambition was to develop Namibia into a global energy hub and export energy to Europe and other parts of the world.
The facility currently has 7,000 solar panels, while future expansion could increase the number to millions, Campe said.
