Johannesburg – A green hydrogen pilot plant and refuelling station to gain scientific insight into upscaling green hydrogen technologies and to ensure a high safety level for the hydrogen economy is to be built in Nambia, Germany’s Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und Prüfung (BAM) stated on Thursday.
Germany’s federal ministry of education and research is providing more than €10 million for the development of the Cleanergy pilot plant near Walvis Bay, and has afforded BAM a project budget of more than €1 million.
BAM component safety head Ing Böllinghaus, who is leading the German side of the project, said the joint research programme would identify innovative materials for welded transport lines, piping systems and storage tanks that would enhance the safety and sustainability of green hydrogen technologies.
Cleanergy has invited BAM and the Namibia Green Hydrogen Institute at the University of Namibia (Unam) to collaborate as research partners.
Completion of the 5MW pilot plant, which will serve as a testing ground for hydrogen production and handling, as well as associated components and infrastructure, is expected in 10 months.
The mission is to lead Namibia’s green energy transformation by becoming the foremost producer of green hydrogen, reducing carbon emissions and driving economic growth using Ohlthaver & List’s solar energy plant and CMB Tech’s expertise in hydrogen and ammonia technologies.
“For this reason, we are ecstatic to collaborate with BAM, supported by Unam, and we are grateful to Böllinghaus and his team for their dedication to driving real transformation in the field and on the subject,” Ohlthaver & List and Cleanergy Solutions Namibia group manager Eike Krafft told Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a statement.
The mutual scientific exchange will be facilitated through a group of doctoral students from Namibia.
Over the course of the next three years, these students will conduct research on materials compatibility.
While most of their research will take place at BAM’s competence centre, H2Safety@BAM, part of it will also take place at the pilot plant to facilitate Namibian upscaling, as well as the imparting of knowledge to Namibian scientific and technical personnel. – Mining Weekly
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