The harsh landscape of the Namib desert around the Cleanenergy Solutions plant outside Walvis Bay, Namibia, in May.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
The Audacious Plan to Seed a Global Green Hub in Namibia's Desert
Sun, wind and abundant land have attracted European investment in the southwestern African nation. But it’s unclear if the projects will ever be commercially viable.
Early in May, King Philippe of Belgium was on the edge of the Namib desert to inaugurate a project that aims to help decarbonize European industry, and which might just enable one of Africa’s smallest economies to hit the clean-energy big time.
It was a humble start for such grand designs, as Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba hosted the king at an unfinished site near the port of Walvis Bay on the southern Atlantic Ocean, the baking rust-colored dunescape silent except for an occasional truck passing on the new roadway.