Green hydrogen in South Africa

Green hydrogen presents a wealth of opportunities to assist with South Africa’s economic recovery and the country’s ability to transition to a low-carbon, climateresilient future. Ziyanda Majodina speaks to Fahmida Smith, market development principal at Anglo American and vice chairperson of the African Hydrogen Partnership, about the importance of green hydrogen locally.

Green hydrogen uses renewable energy to split water by electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen. It can also be transformed into ammonia, synthetic fuels and used in hydrogen fuel cells within mobility, stationary and backup power solutions – offering alternatives to decarbonise the transportation, petrochemical, mining and shipping industries. in hydrogen fuel cells and deliver energy where it is needed. It can also be utilised in a variety of applications, from transport to baseload or backup power generation.

The benefit of green hydrogen is that it is found abundantly. Green hydrogen can be produced locally and manufactured near end-use stations. “From a decarbonisation perspective in relation to diesel trucks, buses or plant and equipment on mines, we have found that hydrogen provides zero-emissions solutions to diesel-fuelled systems and in terms of refuelling infrastructure – the speed it takes to refuel hydrogen vehicles in comparison to a diesel system is almost equal,” says Smith.

“Green hydrogen also offers various options when it comes to decarbonisation solutions. For instance, the introduction of hydrogen in hard-to-abate sectors like steel manufacturing enables the production of green steel. In addition, carbon-neutral

Green hydrogen is produced from renewables such as solar/PV and wind, while grey hydrogen can be created from natural gas or coal. Hydrogen can be mixed with natural gas to heat up homes and be stored through liquid organic hydrogen carriers.

Advantages of green hydrogen

Hydrogen is a clean, sustainable and versatile form of energy. It can be used

feedstock such as green ammonia and methanol can also be created,” she explains.

Due to its advantageous storage ability, green hydrogen offers greater resilience. “Renewable energy put directly into the grid only exists when there’s the availability of wind or sunshine. Hydrogen, on the other hand, only requires obtainability, which guarantees an abundance of power,” Smith notes.

Projects

Anglo American recently launched the world’s largest hydrogen-powered mine haul truck, which will operate daily at the Mogalakwena platinum mine in Limpopo, as a part of Anglo America’s nuGen™ Zero Emission Haulage Solution.

The hydrogen-battery hybrid truck generates 2 MW of power and can carry 290 tonnes of payload. The green hydrogen is generated at the mine site. nuGen has a fully integrated green hydrogen system that consists of production, fuelling and haulage.

Smith expands: “The project was done in conjunction with our partners Engie, who were responsible for the production of the green hydrogen and the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure on-site. Our team at Anglo America took responsibility for the development of the truck.” The truck incorporates 800 kW of fuel cell system together with a 1.2 MW battery. It has a total power generating potential of 2 MW. The project is expected to be fully implemented by 2026 and is a first step in making eight of the company’s mines carbon-neutral by 2030.

The Hydrogen Valley Feasibility Study Report states that the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the South African National Energy Development Institute – in partnership with Anglo American, Bambili Energy and Engie – continue to explore opportunities to create a ‘Hydrogen Valley’.

“The report was a private-public partnership initiative that provides insight into what impact a hydrogen economy could have in South Africa. The study shows what the generation of green hydrogen and the uptake would be in the valley, which is around a 835 km distance between Mokopane in Limpopo extending through the industrial and commercial corridor to Johannesburg and leading to Durban,” states Smith.

According to the feasibility study, the creation of a hydrogen economy could generate approximately US$3.9 billion (R62.75 billion) and $8.8 billion (R141.68 billion), with associated taxes of $900 million (R14.3 billion), for South Africa’s GDP by 2050 and create about 14 000 and 30 000 jobs annually.

“There could be an enormous benefit for us as a country when we start talking about the hydrogen economy. Another benefit to a valley or corridor is that it can be easily replicated in other regions within the country and globally,” Smith adds.

Approximately nine catalytic projects within the transport, construction and industrial sectors have been identified across these hubs.

The cost of green hydrogen

“Presently, utilising hydrogen in fuel cells is more expensive than diesel. However, by 2030, when doing a total cost of ownership between hydrogen and diesel systems (with economies of scale), we predict price parity or for hydrogen to be a cheaper option,” Smith says.

Anglo American aims to reduce hydrogen costs by exploring investment in the hydrogen ecosystem, which will facilitate a competitive advantage on a global scale. Smith explains, “We focus on how to reduce the delivered price of green hydrogen through our investment in AP Ventures. One such example is the investment in Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies, which aims to decrease the price of energy storage and transportation.”

Challenges

• Cost and demand aggregation:

Ensuring the right partnerships for the improvement and the resilience around the technology allows for larger uptake and economies of scale. Hydrogen needs to be competitively priced. This can be achieved through the creation of new business opportunities aimed at reducing pain points within the hydrogen value chain.

• Governmental approach in structuring policies:

The DSI’s announcement of the Hydrogen Society Roadmap launch will encourage the production and uptake of the technology. There needs to be alignment between different governments in Africa to ensure largescale deployment and attract additional cohesive concessional, grant and developmental funding.

• Incentives:

There should be a repurposing of existing incentives for the availability and application of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

Anglo American recognises green hydrogen’s role in transitioning to greener and cleaner energy and transport. “Our platinum group metals are used in key technologies along the hydrogen value chain from production through electrolyser technologies to hydrogen storage such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) and end uses like fuel cells.

Therefore, from a market development perspective, we see hydrogen as a key opportunity for us in terms of our metal uptake. The second lens we use to look at hydrogen is through our own decarbonisation ambitions like our hydrogen mine haul truck.

The third lens is in support of the Just Energy Transition and is aligned with our efforts on the Hydrogen Valley initiative,” Smith concludes.