The Ministry of Mines and Energy is set to convene its first-ever workshop to lay the groundwork for the development of legislative measures to facilitate the implementation of Namibia’s green hydrogen projects next week.

The workshop aims to address the absence of existing regulatory frameworks for green hydrogen projects, which poses a significant challenge to their successful implementation.

Key government representatives, ministries, regulators and agencies will converge on Monday and Tuesday next week to deliberate on policy formulation and the scope of sectoral legislation.

Green hydrogen commissioner James Mnyupe says the workshop will culminate in the development of a legislative roadmap and the establishment of specialised working groups to address pivotal aspects of the new legislation.

Capital costs and technological complexities associated with green hydrogen production require a supportive legal environment to foster investment security.

This means the Water Resources Management Act of 2004, the Water Resources Management Act of 2013, the energy regulatory authority bill of 2019, the new equitable economic empowerment bill of 2016, the Standards Act of 2005 and the Electricity Act of 2007 and other mining and energy legislation may have to be revisited.