Renewable energy

Green liquids and gases and battery storage are generating interest.

With the Eastern Cape firmly established as the leading wind power province, other innovative and important subsectors are making their presence felt in the energy landscape.

Sector Insight

high grade reserves of vanadium in the world in the Bushveld Complex.

The decision by Bushveld Energy to start producing vanadium battery electrolyte at its new facility in East London is an important marker for that sector. The company intends eventually assembling battery systems locally.

Bushveld divisions align with market demand forecasts

In response to these assumptions and findings, it is Bushveld Minerals' intention to vertically grow the vanadium company through the supply of vanadium electrolyte for VRFBs for the energy storage sector in the medium-term and establish a regionally-oriented assembly and manufacturing capacity in the long-term: creating a global VRFB supply chain in South Africa with the added benefit of creating a captive market for Bushveld Minerals’ vanadium production.

The Coega SEZ has been chosen by Hive Hydrogen SA as the location of a green ammonia project which will be fully operational by 2026. The project investment amount is approximately $4.6-billion, principally focussed on the construction of a green ammonia plant. The main development partners are Built Africa and Hive Energy of the UK who have formed Hive Hydrogen SA but various other partners are involved. Local salt manufacturer Cerebos will supply desalinated water to the project. Solar and wind projects producing 4 000MW will need to be built to supply the project with renewable energy.

Bushveld Energy was accordingly established in 2016 to capture a share of this attractive market and is exclusively focused on developing and promoting the role of vanadium in the growing global energy storage market through the development of VRFB technology.

DID YOU KNOW?

VRFBs are ideally suited for largescale, long duration energy storage applications

The ammonia will be separated from the oxygen by an electrolyser, and hydrogen and nitrogen will be combined to form green ammonia which will be stored in liquid form at a tank at the Port of Ngqura, from where it can be exported around the world. It can be used in fertiliser and explosives.

In doing so, Bushveld Energy is bringing the energy storage value chain to South Africa as a means of leveraging South Africa-mined and beneficiated vanadium. Bushveld Minerals will actively support the beneficiation of minerals mined in South Africa into higher valueadded final products.

Gas company Afrox is another partner, although there is no intention currently to convert the oxygen to pharmaceutical-grade product as that market is currently well served.

Bringing the energy storage value chain to South Africa

Another renewable energy investor in the Coega SEZ is Seraphim Solar Cell Manufacturing that is investing R362-million to increase the local content of its solar value chain.

At the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ), several new renewable energy investors have signed up in recent months.

The first environmental authorisations, which cover Mossel Bay and Coega, have been gazetted and are the first steps towards the building of a 400km gas pipeline from the Mossel Bay to a planned 1000MW gas power station at Coega.

Online Resources

To realise the potential of VRFBs in energy storage, Bushveld Energy’s first job was to undertake a market study to identify VRFB demand in Africa, as well as global vanadium electrolyte demand. In partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa, the parties undertook a study in the second half of 2016. This concluded in August 2017 that favourable demand exists for VRFBs, particularly in the utility (including transmission and distribution networks)

Hydrogen South Africa: www.hysasystems.com

Independent Power Producer Projects: www.ipp-projects.co.za

South African Independent Power Producers Association: www.saippa.org.za

South African Wind Energy Association: www.sawea.org.za off-grid – as well as minigrid – markets. Demand is expected to peak between 2025 and 2030.

The study also found that global electrolyte demand is likely to peak during the same timeframe and that Bushveld Minerals would be able to compete cost effectively for not just the electrolyte market in Africa but other regions, as well.

Aspen Pharmacare will take its operations off grid by 2024 by purchasing power from companies that generate electricity from waste plastic. The Aspen factory on the edge of North End Lake is one of the province’s biggest manufacturing concerns and currently gets 8% of its electricity from solar roof installations. A process called pyrolysis will convert plastic waste into a synthetic fuel.

Moreover, the study found that South Africa serves as the logical base for VRFB manufacturing. With the IDC as a partner, Bushveld Minerals will benefit from the IDC’s important stakeholder linkages with the South African government, regulators, utilities and other key players that are necessary to provide a catalytic stimulus for the energy storage industry – as they have for the renewable industry to date.

This study subsequently prompted Bushveld Energy’s first project: the deployment of a utility-scale VRFB, a project that was co-developed by Bushveld Energy and the IDC with the system manu- factured by Bushveld Energy’s US-based technology partner, UniEnergy Technologies (UET) and deployed Eskom’s Research, Testing and Development (RT&D) Centre in Rosherville, South Africa. The VRFB, a peak of over 120 kWh, was commis sioned during the last quarter of will be tested for a period of 18 months.

In parallel to the market study, Bushveld Energy and the IDC undertook techno-economic study to evaluate merit of establishing a vanadium lyte production plant in South Africa. Study results have indicated that Bushveld Energy can manufacture dium electrolyte at globally competitive cost levels.

The study determined the viability establishing a scalable plant with production capacity of 200 MWh annum that could easily scale to more times that capacity, as demand grows.

The scope of the project will entail the construction of an electrolyte

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Humansdorp could become the site of a plant that produces e-methanol from green hydrogen and gas created from locallysourced biomass. Three companies have signed an agreement to do a feasibility study: ENERTRAG South Africa, Earth & Wire and 24Solutions. The abundant wind and solar resources of the area would create the renewable energy to form the green hydrogen. ■