The fund’s equity subscription will be backed by an initial €23 million development funding to the project.
SDG Namibia One is a blended finance vehicle focused on green hydrogen projects and related infrastructure in Namibia. Blended finance is seen as critical for the nascent green hydrogen industry, offering the advantage of reducing transaction costs and accelerating high-quality project development, ultimately leading to quicker investment decisions, expedited project delivery, and proof of concept. The fund seeks to raise US$1 billion from public and private investors in Namibia and globally.
The fund is jointly managed by Climate Fund Managers (CFM), a climate-centric blended finance fund manager, Dutch development financing institution, Invest International, and the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF). EIF’s involvement ensures direct access and ownership for the Government of Namibia (GRN) in the project, whereas CFM and Invest International bring in the required institutional and funding capacity.
The project, which will be developed on 4000km² of land within the Tsau ||Khaeb National Park, is Namibia’s first fully vertically integrated GW-scale green hydrogen project and the largest green hydrogen production project in Sub-Saharan Africa. Upon completion of Phases 1 and 2, it will produce 2 million t of green ammonia (a hydrogen derivative that is easier to transport) annually from ~7 GW of predominantly wind and solar renewable energy generation capacity and ~3 GW of electrolyser capacity. The project will avoid an estimated 5 - 6 million tpy of CO2 emissions.
Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, stated : “Ever since we started working with government, we have ensured that this project creates a new global standard for the sustainable and equitable development of international large-scale green hydrogen projects. Namibia’s equity stake and its management through this new fund is truly world-leading and provides a template for future projects in Namibia and abroad. We would like to show our gratitude and thanks to government and our partners in this project.”