Namibia on Monday commenced work on establishing the world’s first green iron project, a N$600-million investment that is a partnership between the German Ministry of Economy and Climate Action, the Namibian government, and other European stakeholders.
The Plant, which is being built near Arandis, will use renewable energy to produce iron based on HyIron technology, without any carbon emissions. This is a significant breakthrough, as the iron and steel industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters.
The Plant is expected to start production in late 2024 and will initially produce 15,000 tonnes of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) per year, with zero carbon emissions released during the production process.
Renewable energy will replace fossil fuels in the conventional production process, powered by a solar and wind energy plant.
In the initial phase, a 20MW solar photovoltaic installation will provide carbon-free electricity to the Plant and as production scales up, an additional 18MW of wind energy and 140MW of solar energy will be integrated.
This power plant will primarily supply energy for water electrolysis to produce hydrogen, the reduction agent, which will then be transported to the furnace, where it will react with the iron ore’s oxygen at ambient pressure, ultimately forming water, which will be reused within the process.
However, there is the potential to scale up production significantly after the pilot phase is complete.
The project is expected to create 50 jobs for locals, and more jobs are expected to be created in the future.
HyIron Managing Director Johannes Michels said the project is a major step forward for Namibia and the world.
“This project shows that it is possible to have carbon-free industries that are also economically viable,” Michels said. “Namibia is a perfect place for this project because of its good conditions, such as space, wind, iron ore, and a stable political environment,” he said.
Quizzed on the profit margins that the project is expected to bring, he said: “It will be definite that we will not have losses for this project. We just don’t know what will be the exact profitability of it yet. This is pilot industrial production. Before the energy transition, it was not possible to produce this kind of iron because it was a heavy industrial process.”
When operational, the Oshivela project is anticipated to become one of the largest primary green iron production sites globally and projected to reduce annual CO₂ emissions by 27,000 metric tonnes, equivalent to 50% of Namibia’s power industry emissions, as per the developers’ estimates.
According to the developers, the project is poised to address the growing global demand for iron, which is projected to rise from the current 1.9 billion tonnes annually to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2030, necessitating an increase in production capacities by 50 million tonnes each year.
