- SDG Namibia One commits up to US$ 3.6 million in development funding for the Dâures Green Fertiliser Project in Erongo, with support from the European Union Global Gateway and Invest International.
- The plant targets annual output of up to 20 000 t of green ammonia and 80 000 t of ammonium sulphate fertiliser for Namibia and the SADC region.
- Once running, the project is expected to cut about 48 000 t CO₂e per year and create up to 115 permanent jobs in a rural area.
SDG Namibia One, the country’s dedicated energy transition and green hydrogen fund under Climate Fund Managers’ Climate Investor Three, has signed a development funding agreement with Enersense Energy Namibia to move the Dâures Green Fertiliser Project toward financial close. The deal unlocks up to US$ 3.6 million of a total development budget of up to US$ 7.07 million, with the balance backed by the European Union under its Global Gateway strategy and Invest International.
The project will be sited in the Dâures Constituency, roughly 50 km inland from the Atlantic coast, and will use local solar and wind resources to make low carbon fertiliser. Planned infrastructure includes 60 MW of solar PV, 10 MW of wind and a 65 MWh battery energy storage system to supply renewable power to a 40 MW electrolyser that will produce green hydrogen for conversion into green ammonia and ammonium sulphate fertiliser.
SDG Namibia One will act as co-developer alongside Enersense and the funding will cover front end engineering design, market development, permitting, environmental and social studies, and the conversion of market interest into bankable offtake agreements. The parties target financial close in the second quarter of 2028 and commercial operations in the first quarter of 2030.
Namibia and the wider Southern African Development Community face a structural fertiliser supply deficit and rely heavily on imports, exposing farmers to price and logistics risk. By establishing domestic production of low carbon fertiliser, the project aims to reduce dependence on carbon intensive imports, support agricultural productivity and food security, and add value within regional supply chains.
The initiative builds on the Dâures Green Hydrogen Village pilot developed by Enersense at the same site, which has mobilised about US$ 17.7 million from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, UNIDO, the UK Government and Enersense. The pilot is expected to deliver Namibia’s first locally manufactured green fertiliser by the fourth quarter of 2026 and will generate operational data to inform the commercial scale plant.
SDG Namibia One is managed by Namibia Hydrogen Fund Managers, a partnership between Climate Fund Managers, Invest International and the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia, and uses blended finance to de risk early stage green hydrogen projects toward bankability. The Dâures deal is the fund’s fourth investment, following Hyphen’s gigawatt scale green hydrogen project, HyIron’s Oshivela climate neutral iron plant, and the Zhero Molecules Walvis Bay green ammonia facility.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
