Located in the Dâures Constituency of the Erongo region of Namibia, in southern Africa, lies the continent’s first net zero village. Established in 2023, the Daures Green Hydrogen Village set out to make the most of the natural resources available in the country to make green hydrogen and ammonia with the aim of producing the first zero carbon fertiliser in Namibia.
‘Namibia is a nation which is arid to semi-arid,’ explains Jerome Namaseb, chief executive officer of the Daures Green Hydrogen Village. ‘It’s very vulnerable to the effects of climate change; we’ve experienced about two droughts over the last five years. So, it’s natural for us to want to try and see how the advent of green technology may result in the opportunity for industrialisation … whilst also derisking or adding value from an agricultural context.’
The village is supported by a collaboration between the Namibian and German governments, both of whom have committed to a clean, green future in the country by taking advantage of its natural renewable energy resources – namely solar and wind power.
Currently, around 80% of all ammonia produced [globally] is used to produce fertiliser, but Namibia, and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, has seen significant increases in the cost of fertiliser. As a result, fertiliser use in the region is low, which has an impact on food security.‘Recent studies speak about the rate of application per square metre in Sub-Saharan Africa being 15% of the recommended amount by the [Food and Agriculture Organization],’ says Namaseb.
The Daures Green Hydrogen Village aims to locally produce low-carbon fertiliser that can address this by providing a more affordable alternative to expensive imported synthetic options. But the project is not just hoping to improve the land and food production in the area, it is also looking to support local people by helping to address the high levels of unemployment in the country.
‘This creates an opportunity where we can look to achieve industrialisation, which should address some of the socioeconomic problems that we experience in Namibia, [such as] significantly high levels of unemployment,’ says Namaseb. ‘But at the same time, hopefully be able to bring to market a green, locally produced, zero carbon fertiliser, with the aspiration of launching an industrial facility in the near future.’
Proving the concept
The hydrogen village kicked off with a pilot proof-of-concept facility, with construction starting in May 2023, and an agricultural facility officially launched in October 2024.
The first phases of the project have been focused on producing green hydrogen and ammonia as an efficient resource for nitrogen fertiliser, with the aim of producing around 18 tonnes of hydrogen,100 tonnes of green ammonia and more than 400 tonnes of tomatoes (along with many other vegetables) per year.
The hydrogen is made by splitting water from boreholes and is then converted to ammonia by way of the Haber-Bosch process, using nitrogen from the air. The whole process uses clean energy, rather than fossil fuels.
The facility is entirely off-grid so the village has established all the basic infrastructure on site, including a solar panel field with a substation and electrolyser, seven boreholes that suplly 70,000 litres of water each day, a laboratory and a dedicated training centre. There are also lodging facilities for students, visitors and workers, a nursery and a fully automated greenhouse for growing vegetables. The proof-of-concept facility encompassed 300 hectares, but the whole site covers 15,000 hectares.
In April, it was announced that the Daures Green Hydrogen Village had won funding through the Accelerate-to-Demonstrate Facility run by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), which will be used to enable production of ammonium sulfate fertiliser. The groundbreaking for the construction of the ammonia sulfate fertiliser pilot facility is to be held in September, with the project scheduled for completion in 2027.
The team has also completed feasibility studies for a hybrid 5.5GW renewable facility, with a 2.5GW electrolyser that will produce over 180,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year and over 1 million tonnes of renewable ammonia.
Ultimately they hope to develop a 100MW ammonia sulfate fertilisation production facility with the aim of synthesising approximately 20,000 tonnes of ammonia and 80,000 tonnes of fertiliser per year. It is anticipated that construction of this larger facility will begin in 2027.
Namaseb says the village is a ‘unique achievement’ for two reasons. First because this would be the first green fertiliser to be produced in Namibia, and secondly because some of the inputs of the process are byproducts of other industrial processes. ‘For example, we’ve got a copper cell smelter which produces sulfuric acid as a byproduct of their industrial process, which would actually be the feedstock for producing ammonium sulfate fertiliser,’ he explains.
A sense of community
But the Daures project is not just about producing zero carbon fertiliser, it’s also about community. ‘In our [engineering, procurement and construction] contracting, we reserved about 30% of the contractual amount for small-medium enterprises,’ explains Namaseb. ‘We’ve also ensured that the employment is significantly skewed to sourcing unskilled and semi-skilled labour from the local community.’
As a result, a significant part of the project is skills development. This is where the training centre, launched in partnership with Unido, comes in. The training programme, which will run over two years, will focus on young Namibians, specifically those from marginalised communities, to ensure that vulnerable groups are not left behind in Namibia’s developing green economy.
‘We’ve gone live with a call to the public where, over the next 18–24 months, we intend to train between 250 to 300 Namibians at this facility,’ says Namaseb. Participants will receive hands-on-training in sustainable agriculture, green innovation and entrepreneurship.
‘We have a demonstration electrolyser with 100% off grid set up with some turbines, battery and PV simulation, so that we can try and impart some of this knowledge to Namibians that aspire to be in the industry,’ he explains.
Leading the way
There are a variety of similar projects in development across Africa – including Egypt, Morocco, Uganda, Kenya and Mauritania – however, many of these are still at the conceptual stage. Namaseb says that, from an African context, Namibia is leading the way. ‘A lot of credit to the Namibian government for setting up a conducive environment for the development and incubation of an industry such as this,’ he adds.
Long term, the project’s organisers envisage supplying Namibia and the rest of southern Africa with zero carbon fertiliser. This will be helped by Namibia’s strategic position as a port servicing a lot of landlocked countries, such as Zambia and Botswana. Beyond that they have aspirations to eventually export green ammonia on an international level.
‘The EU and the rest of the world does remain a very interesting potential market,’ says Namaseb. ‘For example, the EU with initiatives and policies and frameworks such as the carbon border adjustment mechanism, incentivises a country like Namibia to take advantage of superior renewable energy resources to try and access these markets, as we see carbon taxes and restrictions on carbon-based products for specific industries is definitely starting to come to the fore.’
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