LPM leaders doubts green hydrogen project’s viability in Namibia

…says it is a waste of taxpayers’ money

Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi says he does not believe the green hydrogen project will ever come into fruition.

He made these remarks at an LPM rally held at Lüderitz on Saturday.

Swartbooi said the project will cost the government too much money.

“I have spoken with experts from Saudi Arabia and Germany, and I believe nothing will happen. There is still so much that must be done before that project will ever materialise. We were told that it’s an investment and money will come from outside for the development. People are investing in the green hydrogen – that’s how it was sold,” he said.

“Now taxpayers’ money must be used to pay for green hydrogen”.

He said politicians are using green hydrogen as “their project”.

“The reason why green hydrogen must be financed so aggressively is because the politicians are too deep in the green hydrogen project.”

LPM national spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa says the party is hesitant with the progress of the project.

According to Simataa, the project is riddled with concerns.

“Initially, when it came into conversation and so forth, it was not stressed under which ministry it was under.

It was something that was held very closely by the office of the presidency. It was not a project of national level, but a project of the presidency,” he says.

Simataa says the project was initially dubbed as an investment project where countries will invest in the green hydrogen industry, which will grow and then these countries will receive a return.

“We move from that to say that now the Namibian citizens should pay for these and its no longer an investment project,” he says.

Simataa says the issue when it comes to green hydrogen is that there is no clarity on how it is going to be integrated into Namibia’s energy sector or how Namibians will be benefiting directly.

A lot of constraints revolved around the infrastructure.

“They did not have a good power source,” he says.

“They did not have a good line of water, therefore, they had to decide whether they will be drilling water from the ocean. They do not have a desalination plant, which makes it difficult for them to use the same water,” he says.

Simataa also says there was no proper planning when it came to the project.

“There isn’t a clear benefit from the product thats going to be made.

There isn’t a clear benefit form the investments.

There isn’t even a clear benefit of who’s going to be employed by these projects,” he says.

“Therefore, we are very sceptical in general when it comes to green hydrogen and the success of it”.

Simataa maintains that these conferences that continuously occur on green hydrogen are “never targeted to individuals on the ground”.