A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) and the ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU) which will see the duo evaluating areas where they can collaborate to accelerate what is claimed to be sub-Saharan Africa’s largest fully vertically integrated green hydrogen project.

The pair will subsequently enter talks to ascertain which areas of the green hydrogen project they aim to work together on.

A ceremony was held to mark the MoU, with Shinya Ishizuka, CEO of Africa Bloc at ITOCHU, and Marco Raffinetti, CEO at Hyphen both signing the agreement – witnessed by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry for Japan, Nishimura Yasutoshi, and the Minister for Mines and Energy for Namibia, Tom Alweendo.

“Hyphen expects Japan to emerge as one of the key demand centers for green ammonia globally and we are delighted to have the opportunity to explore areas for collaboration with ITOCHU to unlock supply into this critical market,” said Marco Raffinetti, CEO of Hyphen. “I firmly believe that Namibia has the potential to become a long-term strategic partner to Japan for the supply of green hydrogen, well beyond the scale of Hyphen’s project, given Namibia’s unique competitive advantages in green hydrogen production.”

“We are pleased that ITOCHU, a leading general trading and investment house in Japan, is contributing to a low-carbon society together with Hyphen,” added Shinya Ishizuka, CEO of Africa Bloc, ITOCHU. “With this collaborative development of green ammonia in Namibia, ITOCHU will aim to create a wide range of ammonia value chains in various existing industrial applications as well as for future energy use, and will support our clients and industries in achieving low carbonization goals focusing on Japan, Asia and its surrounding markets.”