Just weeks before Namibia turns its attention to the future of green industries at the African Green Industries Summit (AGIS) in Swakopmund on 9 and 10 September, Gondwana Collection Namibia is hosting an international research project about green hydrogen at Kalahari Anib Lodge that is already putting some of those ideas into practice.
At the Lodge, an international research consortium is testing whether wastewater can be regenerated to clean water and produce renewable energy through green hydrogen – a project that could reshape how Namibia approaches energy, self-sufficiency and sustainable tourism.
Photo credits: Gondwana Collection Namibia
Two years ago, the consortium led by Germany's renowned Fraunhofer Institute approached Gondwana Collection with an audacious idea. What if a lodge's wastewater could be treated on site and converted into clean energy? What if the oxygen produced in that process could be fed back to purify the water even further? And what if the system could fit inside a pair of shipping containers?
The result is the HygO project, a fully integrated, containerised wastewater treatment system combined with a green hydrogen microgrid. It is the first of its kind in Namibia and it is being tested in the Kalahari Desert.
The project is financed by Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, supporting the development and testing of innovative solutions for resource efficiency in water scarce environments.
The consortium includes Fraunhofer IWU, Texulting GmbH, Haver & Boecker oHG and wastewater specialists Krenkel Abwassertechnik GmbH. Together, the partners are exploring how wastewater, hydrogen, oxygen and renewable energy can be brought together in a closed loop that maximises the use of every resource.
Photo credits: Gondwana Collection Namibia
Namibia's semi-arid climate presents stark realities. Water is scarce. Energy infrastructure is stretched. Remote communities often bear the brunt of these challenges.
For the consortium, these conditions made Kalahari Anib Lodge the ideal research site.
The project needed a location where water scarcity, energy demand and community well-being intersect. It needed a property with established infrastructure, consistent maintenance capability and a genuine commitment to sustainability.
It needed a partner that understood the harshness of the environment and was willing to test new solutions.
Gondwana Collection Namibia was that partner.
Photo credits: Bennie Boshoff
It aligns with our goal of sustainability and a green future, within Gondwana Collection and in Namibia. A system like this provides major benefits in addressing water scarcity, energy need, and community development. It is a valuable opportunity for our personnel and communities to learn from and develop knowledge around these innovations. We remain enthusiastic and committed to a bright future with more innovation built on this initial foundation,” says Gys Joubert, Gondwana Collection’s Managing Director.
At its core, the system asks a simple question: What if wastewater is not wasted at all, but a resource?
Every lodge, household, and community produces wastewater. Showers, laundry, kitchens and sanitation all generate it. Traditionally, this water is disposed of. At Kalahari Anib Lodge, however, it becomes the starting point for a different approach.
Photo credits: Gondwana Collection Namibia
1. Advanced Wastewater Treatment
All wastewater from the lodge and employee accommodation is channelled into a specially designed treatment container. Using biological and mechanical processes, and advanced filtration technology, the wastewater (black water) is treated to produce cleaner water (grey water).
2. Green Hydrogen Production
The treated water is then fed into a second container housing the microgrid. Powered by solar panels, an electrolyser splits the water molecule (H₂O) into hydrogen and oxygen.
The hydrogen is stored in canisters and, when needed, used to generate clean electricity. The oxygen, traditionally considered a waste by-product, is cycled back into the wastewater treatment plant, where it helps make the water even purer.
"This is a closed-loop system," said Michelle Dillmann, Gondwana Collection’s Environmental and Social Impact Officer. "We're taking every single by-product and finding a use for it. It's a masterpiece of resource efficiency," she continued.
Photo credits: Gondwana Collection Namibia
The system currently has a capacity of approximately 15 kilowatts. It is not intended to power the entire lodge operation. Instead, the pilot system is being used to support the employee accommodation while researchers assess its performance and potential for optimisation.
With the right infrastructure, the system could potentially capture heat generated during the process and use it to produce hot water, further reducing electricity consumption.
The significance of this pilot extends far beyond the technology itself.
The clean energy generated by the system will be used for the employee
accommodation, while treated water could potentially support greenery in an otherwise harsh environment.
The project is also a proof of concept for something much larger. If the technology can be refined and adapted, it could potentially be relevant to remote facilities beyond tourism such as providing remote clinics with reliable, locally generated power and oxygen.
Photo credits: Bennie Boshoff
The programme is currently planned to run for three years. During this period, the consortium will have an opportunity to assess the system, gather operational data and explore potential improvements and future applications. Gondwana Collection is committed to learning from the research and considering how innovations emerging from the project could contribute to its sustainability ambitions and potentially benefit wider communities.
The project has been designed with rigorous safety standards in mind. The components used in the system are certified to applicable European safety standards, with applicability to Namibian conditions. The microgrid features a sophisticated control centre with multiple sensors, allowing remote monitoring and automated safety controls supported through Siemens.
The system has been positioned at a deliberate distance from the employee accommodation to minimise potential noise disruption. Its 15-kilowatt capacity is modest in scale and is intended as a pilot system rather than a large-scale energy platform.
The installation is contained and incorporated multiple safety features, including automated controls and shutdown mechanisms. As with any power infrastructure, access to the system is restricted and it is not intended for unauthorised handling.
Photo credits: Gondwana Collection Namibia
For Namibia, the significance of this project may be difficult to overstate.
It aligns with the country's need to find practical solutions for water scarcity, energy security and sustainable development. It also has the potential to contribute to several Global Sustainable Development Goals, including Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).
But perhaps its greatest contribution is simpler: it demonstrates that even in one of the world's most arid environments, there is potential to create systems that make better use of the resources already available.
As the project continues, Gondwana Collection is already looking ahead. The next phase could mean exploring how the system might serve communities beyond tourism. It could mean refining the process to produce even cleaner water and investigating additional uses for the energy and other outputs generated by the system.
The possibilities are as vast as the Kalahari itself.