Hyphen, Itochu ink MoU to talk about Namibia's green H2 giga-project

Image by Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Pty) Ltd.

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese trader Itochu Corp (TYO:8001) to explore areas for potential collaboration on Hyphen’s flagship green hydrogen and ammonia project in Namibia, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

Hyphen, a joint venture between Nicholas Holdings Ltd and German renewables developer Enertrag SE, secured the rights in a tender to develop a hub capable of producing 2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually once at full capacity. The project will witness the installation of roughly 3 GW of electrolysers powered by some 7 GW of renewable energy.

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Commenting on the MoU ahead of further talks, Hyphen’s CEO Marco Raffinetti said: ”Hyphen expects Japan to emerge as one of the key demand centres for green ammonia globally and we are delighted to have the opportunity to explore areas for collaboration with ITOCHU to unlock supply into this critical market.”

“I firmly believe that Namibia has the potential to become a long-term strategic partner to Japan for the supply of green hydrogen, well beyond the scale of Hyphen’s project, given Namibia’s unique competitive advantages in green hydrogen production,” added Raffinetti.

“With this collaborative development of green ammonia in Namibia, ITOCHU will aim to create a wide range of ammonia value chains in various existing industrial applications as well as for future energy use, and will support our clients and industries in achieving low carbonization goals focusing on Japan, Asia and its surrounding markets,” commented Shinya Ishizuka, CEO of Africa Bloc at Itochu.

The latest agreement follows a series of MoUs that Hyphen signed to support the project, forging relationships with Namibian, Dutch and German entities. Earlier this year, Hyphen signed a non-binding green off-take agreement with South Korean hydrogen producer Approtium, potentially adding a route to a new market.