RESOURCEFUL MINING ISSUE | 2022
HYDROGEN
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) is delighted to announce the launch of the Hydrogen Summit, which will debut at the AEC’s annual conference, African Energy Week (AEW) 2022, taking place from 18 to 21 October 2022, in Cape Town, South Africa.
AEC’s inaugural Hydrogen Summit scheduled for 2022
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EW 2022’s Hydrogen Summit will be headlined by industry leaders and executives from both the public and private sectors in Africa’s top, and prospective, hydrogen markets. The Hydrogen Summit will be beneficial to the African continent as it seeks to improve and expand its hydrogen production and use, as well as exports to meet growing energy demand. By leveraging their vast wind and solar energy potential, African countries, including South Africa and Egypt, have the ability to play a leading role in green hydrogen production. Their hydrogen outputs can be used to diversify the energy mix, address renewable energy fluctuations to provide baseload power using clean capacity, decarbonise transportation, and the heating and cooling of buildings while achieving 2050’s zero-emission economies goal. Hydrogen development in Africa The launch of the Hydrogen Summit at AEW 2022 comes at a time African countries are starting to embark on production and infrastructure development initiatives. For instance, the South African government has, through the department
of Higher Education and Science and Innovation, launched the country’s Hydrogen Society Roadmap to ensure skills development, job creation and the development of infrastructure to prepare the South African economy for an influx in hydrogen use – a move that would help decarbonise energy-intensive industries such as steel production. The Roadmap is expected to create 20 000 new jobs during the first years of its implementation, helping the South African economy recover from the impact of the pandemic. Similarly, Uganda’s government, through its Rural Electrification Agency, has kick-started a joint initiative with Belgian firm Tiger Power to construct hydrogenbattery systems for storing renewable energy used to power rural consumers when most needed. “The Hydrogen Summit at AEW 2022 will present an opportunity for African leaders to
NJ Ayuk, executive chairman of the AEC
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