The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $10m loan to Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a Namibian green hydrogen development company, to support the development of a green ammonia project.
The loan, sourced from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), is timely after German utility RWE pulled out of the project at the end of September, citing slower than expected demand in Europe for hydrogen and derivatives such as ammonia.
The funding will support front-end engineering design studies for solar and wind generation, battery energy storage systems, and electrolyser capacity and desalination infrastructure, thereby de-risking the project and attracting the financing required for its realisation. The project aims to achieve final investment decision in the first half of 2026.
SEFA is a multi-donor Special Fund that provides catalytic finance to unlock private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
It offers technical assistance and concessional finance instruments to remove market barriers, build a more robust pipeline of projects, and improve the risk-return profile of individual investments.
The first phase includes 3.75 GW of renewable energy generation, battery storage, 1.5 GW of electrolyser capacity, and supporting infrastructure such as desalination facilities, pipelines, transmission lines, and enhanced port facilities.
Once completed, the project is projected to produce two million tonnes of green ammonia annually for export to key markets.
AfDB and SEFA hosted a session on mobilising commercial capital for energy access in Africa during COP30 in Brazil last month and secured investment commitments totalling nearly €50m from the governments of Germany and Italy.
