In the last few weeks, Namibians witnessed a feast of election manifestos that were launched by ambitious political parties like rockets into orbit in a short space of time and sequence.

Following the various manifesto launches and their key messages across the board, I took a keen interest in the IPC suggestion through its presidential candidate, Dr Panduleni Itula, who proclaimed that “only a leadership with fresh ideas will move Namibia forward.”

Energy theory

Central to this “fresh ideas” analogy, Dr Itula and the IPC, among others, boldly declared publicly that they are not going to waste time and money on “experimental projects” with reference to green hydrogen. This would seem to be one of the main antitheses from what otherwise seems to be a similar IPC election manifesto in relation to the Swapo manifesto, both in its structural and mechanical outlook. From a functional and an analytical perspective, they are both trying to build the same vehicle, albeit with different spare parts and sub-components in some cases.

The alternative to green hydrogen? Nuclear power, says IPC, “with a view to reducing future energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions,” according to its spokesperson, Imms Nashinge. If the IPC spokesperson is correctly understood, the IPC says that 90% of the green hydrogen projects globally don’t have funding.

Also, according to IPC, green hydrogen is an “untested” energy concept, and there are ready-made and tested options in the form of nuclear power and hydroelectricity because, according to them, they don’t have time to wait.

Understanding the basics

According to its most practical and elementary definition, green hydrogen is a clean energy source that only emits water vapour and leaves no residue in the air, unlike coal and oil. It is the end-product that is obtained through the use of renewable energies in its production, which makes it a clean, sustainable fuel with a zero pollution index.

It is this definition, and by its own nature, that places green hydrogen at the centre of global climate protocols and green gas emission targets to which Namibia has also subscribed.

It turns out that despite being a relatively new concept in the Namibian political and economic landscape, green hydrogen is not new.

According to Usman Ahmed, an online energy blogger, the Hydrogen Council’s statistics reveal that 359 large-scale nuclear hydrogen projects are declared across the value chain, with more than 80% of them being situated in Europe, Asia and Australia. Over 30 nations also have hydrogen roadmaps. Europe is at the forefront of hydrogen development, accounting for more than 50% of declared projects, and expected expenditures of US$130 billion. More than 30 nations have explicit nuclear hydrogen programmes.

A waste of time?

This is what the International Energy Agency director Fatih Birol said: “I have rarely seen, if ever, any technology that enjoys so much political backing around the world. Countries that have completely different views on energy and climate all join in saying that hydrogen is a key clean energy technology.”

Writing online in ‘Here’s why hydrogen is a great partner for nuclear – and the planet’, Harsh S Desai states that nuclear energy already comprises nearly 55% of the carbon-free energy in the United States, and is viewed as a key part of any viable climate solution.

He further postulates that the potential for a nuclear and hydrogen partnership is a natural fit, and worthy of future investments. He also argues that using all available carbon-free sources, including nuclear, for hydrogen production will be game-changing. 

This presents the puzzling part in IPC’s reasoning in its dismissal of green hydrogen in favour of nuclear energy, while globally- tested theories and approaches put the two in the same stable.

While Dr Itula gears up to remove green hydrogen from Namibia’s energy equation, if voted into power, the White House is intensifying its plans to ready at least three nuclear power plants to drive green hydrogen production.

The whole world is not behind, either.

Australia already boasts the world’s most hydrogen production plants, while China is currently the largest producer and consumer of green hydrogen in the world. From a market point of view, the world’s largest green hydrogen consumer is Namibia’s largest trading partner outside Africa. Given this context, both dismissing green hydrogen and divorcing it from the very energy source that would drive its effective production represents a weird policy disposition from a presidential candidate who wants to lead Namibia into a new age of prosperity with “fresh ideas”.

Paradox

The paradox of drawing distinct lines between green hydrogen and nuclear energy, and presenting them to the unsuspecting Namibian voter as mutually-exclusive solutions provides the single substantive basis that supports the long-held view that Dr Itula does not cut the depths that he so deceptively projects to people who are looking for changes. 

IPC promises to make Namibia a nuclear producer within the next 20 years. That would make Dr Itula a mere surrogate father of an energy concept that will only come to fruition after he has retired from active politics, and if he is still alive by the grace of God.

Why would it take so long to become a nuclear power-producer under an IPC government if nuclear power is a ready-made and “tested” concept, which in the IPC view is just a plug-and-go concept if the money is there?

On the contrary, James Mnyupe, Namibia’s green hydrogen commissioner, asserts that approximately N$170 million has already been channelled to SMEs to fund essential services related to green hydrogen, and that so far, 400 jobs have been created.

Itula’s promise for a “prosperous Namibia” is that he plans to reverse the gains of these investments and efforts, and abandon a project that could have created more jobs for the desperate youth within a shorter time-span if voted into power.

Given his timeline estimates, my oldest daughter will be a Swapo Party Elders Council member by the time she lives to see the roll-out of a nuclear power project.

Current global views

There are industry-wide recorded views supporting green hydrogen as the global energy of the future, but the common denominator is that it is emerging as a transformative solution in the quest for clean energy and decarbonisation.

Its potential to replace fossil fuels across various sectors, such as transportation, industry and energy storage, positions it as a critical component of global sustainability strategies.

Testing the fresh idea threshold

So, is dismissing green hydrogen or going solo with nuclear a “fresh idea?”

The notion that IPC is at the forefront of “nuclear thinking” as an energy source for Namibia should not be regarded as new. According to the mines and energy ministry, the reasons Namibia does not utilise its own uranium resources boil down to economic, technological, regulatory, environmental and financial reasons  coupled with a lack of general demand in the region. I don’t have the facts yet to agree with these reasons and won’t hesitate to disagree publicly, if I am informed with the facts otherwise. 

But for somebody who had presidential ambitions five years along, showing a patent lack of connection between green hydrogen and nuclear power in your manifesto is disingenuous, laziness or lack of sufficient knowledge on the subject.

It appears that IPC’s quest for displaying “fresh ideas” by dismissing green hydrogen in favour of nuclear power and trying to pit the two as entirely unrelated processes from each other is not scientifically supported. It is a baseless and dishonest manoeuvre that is trying to plant false information in the average mind that the current government is wasting time and public resources on an untested energy concept.

Unless IPC comes out and clarifies any misconceptions in this opinion, the judgment by the analytical reader of its energy theory will be that the IPC plays a sleazy campaign game, which does not befit the stature of a party that places ethics and transparency at the centre of its campaign. Fresh ideas are not packaged in containers of deception. They must come with clear and unambiguous labels.

Conclusion

Save for its current downside that production of green hydrogen is comparatively expensive based on industry benchmarks, it is the scientifically-tested way to global climate change controls, especially in Africa, where we struggle both with energy sufficiency and green gas emission reduction.

Global confidence has grown rapidly on the role of green hydrogen in securing a clean energy revolution that achieves both the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the objective of the Paris Agreement. Namibia is a subscriber to these MDGs.

Namibia is also among the four countries in Africa, along with Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt, that have proposed plans to
include green hydrogen as a part of their climate change agenda. Barring a seismic and unlikely political apocalypse that will give Dr Itula the keys to the State House to reverse these gains, Namibia must remain steadfast and on course.