Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, expressed gratitude to Belgium for their collaborative efforts in the green hydrogen partnership with Namibia, but emphasized the importance of more Research and Development (R&D) in the emerging green hydrogen industry.
He said this during a meeting with the Belgian Delegation accompanying King Philippe, the King of the Belgians, during the ongoing four-day state visit to Namibia.
“We have also agreed to say that, this being a new industry, surely, we still need to do a lot of R&D. We need a lot of R&D for us to better understand how this is going to help effect, how we’re going to transport it and, as part of our MoU, we also agreed that we need to exchange ideas on how to develop this R&D. There was an understanding to actually collaborate with our universities, for example, so we can have some Namibians who are going to study at a much higher level in terms of how this can happen,” Alweendo said.
In addition to R&D, Alweendo pointed out the need for financing incentives to facilitate Final Investment Decisions (FID).
Despite this, Alweendo affirmed Namibia’s appreciation for its partnership with Belgium, citing the mutual benefits derived from Belgium’s support in green hydrogen pilot projects. He highlighted the collaboration between Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group and CMB.TECH, a Belgian company, as an exemplary partnership facilitated by Belgium. This partnership aims to establish Africa’s inaugural public green hydrogen refuelling station in Walvis Bay, Erongo Region, a project to be visited during King Philippe’s state visit with President Nangolo Mbumba.
“We understood then that for us to be successful, we needed to partner with like-minded partners to make sure that that can work for us. And as you say, when we signed that MoU, our late president did make it clear that, yes, these are the resources as Namibia, and therefore the partnership we have should result in a mutually beneficial relationship. And I think that’s what it is now today, where not only has Belgium assisted with some of the pilot projects that we have now in the country, in particular the CMB-Tech that we are going to visit tomorrow. That has happened simply because of the role that you had played to make sure we have a Belgian company that’s willing to invest with us,” the mines minister said.
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