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Wood Mackenzie
AFRICA EVENT REPORT
POD 4: GREEN HYDROGEN AND MINING
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Bridget van Dorsten, Research Analyst - Hydrogen and Emerging Technologies, Wood Mackenzie
Africa has great potential for green hydrogen production because of the geographic advantage of renewable energy production, which is a major cost driver for green hydrogen. However, despite having some of the best sun and wind resources in the world, Africa accounts for only 6% of the low-carbon hydrogen pipeline of 50 MTpa comprising quarterly project announcements between 2015 - 2021. “This isn’t surprising, given the lack of funding available for projects,” observes Bridget. However, that might change sooner rather than later, because of Africa’s potential to generate cheap renewable energy. Note that the operating cost to run an electrolyzer is largely determined by the cost of electricity. In a study of the levelized cost of hydrogen projected in 2030 for 24 countries, Wood Mackenzie found that Brazil, Chile, Morocco, Spain, and Portugal produce the cheapest green hydrogen. Unsurprisingly, these very same countries are able to produce some of
AFRICA EVENT REPORT
POD 4: GREEN HYDROGEN AND MINING
the cheapest renewable energy - which augurs well for the future of green hydrogen in Africa. How would green hydrogen help the decarbonisation drive at African mines?
“Green hydrogen for use in mining trucks holds the most potential to achieve decarbonisation in the mining sector,” says Wood Mac. “Mining trucks can burn up to 134 liters of diesel per hour - what if you just replace that burning fuel with hydrogen? You can do a huge chunk of decarbonisation.”
Anglo American has already got the ball rolling, putting together the firstever hydrogen mining haul truck. The vehicle started on-site testing in the last quarter of 2021 in South Africa, at the Mogalakwena platinum group mines. Anglo American is planning a 40-truck roll-out in 2024 with increased solar and electrolyzer capacity
