#TouchingHydrogenFuture - #SouthAfrica
Erik Rakhou
Energy Advisory Founder & Director | Hydrogen Investor | Podcaster & Moderator | Ex-BCG, E.ON Dgas, Baringa | EU Energy Policy and Regulator Alumnus | Energy Writer
#TouchingHydrogenFuture – tour across the globe in Jules’ Verne style
Short series of stories on global Hydrogen future, written by a group of Hydrogen passionados and energy market realists, making concepts accessible to wider audience, allowing both entertainment and education including readers from all continents for whom affordable and clean energy is key.
Imagining the future is delivering it.
How hydrogen will change our lives. Next stop: South Africa, 2044
Author: Gerhard Human Editors: Erik Rakhou and and Rosa Puentes Fernández
Scenesetting - 2044 – game drives in a hydrogen future – Phalaborwa to Mokopane
It is the year 2044. I am on holiday in the Kruger National Park[1] with my wife and my son’s family. We spent the last three weeks staying in lodges, going on game drives, and staring at the stars next to campfires. My son lives in Johannesburg while my wife and I will be travelling back down to Cape Town. We’ll be driving through the Northern parts of the country to Johannesburg and then fly down to Cape Town.
It is the morning of our departure and after packing my son’s SUV we get in the car and set off. The cars of today all have a very impressive display of how the energy is distributed between batteries, fuel cell and other parts including electric motor[2], and this is something I find fascinating. See figure below for an impression of how fuel cell electric car functions:
Figure: H2 fuel cell car functions, source: US DOE
I often find myself staring at the screen and watching how the energy is consumed. Whenever I get into a car, I have the habit of staring and analyzing the info on the screen. I am very much aware of our low fuel level. We’ve done almost 700km since our last fill, and off course I make my son attentive to this. He annoyingly replies that he knows, and his car has already identified a station and booked a re-fill. The computer shows that we can only fill up to 50% fuel level. Although hydrogen is abundantly available in the country, remote places still have some infrastructure limitations. 50% is however sufficient to get us to a major filling station on the N1 highway, also pre-booked.
We fill up with hydrogen in Phalaborwa[3] before our journey back. Phalaborwa used to be a mining community which ended early 2020s when, once South Africa’s most productive copper mine, it eventually reached the end of its production life. During the mine’s years of open pit operation, it was already a leader in decarbonizing before the term ‘decarbonising’ even existed, by employing a trolley-assist system for haul trucks coming out of the pit to save diesel [source].
Mokopane – the hydrogen hub
From Phalaborwa we drive to Johannesburg on the N1 highway past Mokopane[4], location of the very famous Anglo American Mogalakwena Mine site, where once the world’s largest hydrogen fuel cell vehicle was first demonstrated more than 20 years ago (2022). An example of mining truck, for impression shown below:
Figure, open licence source: Truck - Case Study: Hydrogen powered mine truck for Anglo American mine - NPROXX
And, example of hydrogen as part of mining ecosystem, shown below:
Figure: Mining H2 overview concept - Clean Mining Platform | HySA Infrastructure
At the time I was travelling regularly to the site where the electrolyser and fueling station were being installed. It was a challenging site and time, with wind, dust and COVID fears and restrictions causing project delays and more delays. The project eventually ended a big success and today the site hosts around 120 MW electrolysers powered from solar energy supplying green hydrogen for around 40 haul trucks and supplies hydrogen for fueling stations along the N1 and N3 highways all the way down to the South Coast [source]. Because of this site, hydrogen is now abundantly available in the area and resulted in pioneering deployment of fuel cell busses, trucks and eventually cars in the country [source]. Took me a while to convince my son to get himself a hydrogen fueled vehicle. Now we can drive the more than 700 kilometers from the lodge without having to stop for too long. Just as well. We don’t have time to stop if we want to catch our plane.
I haven’t been in this area since moving down to Cape Town. I must say, this once rural and struggling area is now flourishing since becoming a hydrogen hub. If we had time, I would have loved to take my grandson to the nearby science center where all sorts of hydrogen related technologies are showcased. Today probably not that impressive. All this was a direct result of the mining truck project focusing the world’s attention on that one truck. For him his father’s hydrogen car is just a car. He doesn’t even understand the term harmful emissions as most energy he uses is powered by solar. He is only 12 and grew up in a world completely different than ours. Where we had to choose between diesel and petrol, today the choice is between hydrogen fueled or charging of batteries.
Lessons on hydrogen fueled mobility
As we drive almost every 3rd truck coming past is hydrogen fueled. Twenty years back not a single hydrogen vehicle was driving on any South African or even African road. Being very excited about this, and seeing my grandson staring at mindless videos on a screen since we left, I thought I’ll give him a little Q&A.
Me: What is powering your father’s car and those trucks? Pointing to the ones with the H2 decal on them?
Grandson: The sun.
He thinks everything is powered by the sun, and off course that is 100% correct. All life and energy, even the bad kind, is in some way a result of the sun. In his defense his father is not technical and when asked -to avoid having to try and explain the complex process of harnessing solar power and using water to produce fuel- he just says, “the sun”. Not at all wrong, but the kid is not learning anything. So, I take it on me to educate him a bit. I start telling him about fossil fuels and how countries like South Africa used to have almost all their electricity and fuel produced from fossil sources, being coal, oil, and gas. I then start explaining how cleaner energy and fuels emerged, but he quickly interrupts me.
Grandson: That’s the stuff you guys used to burn that caused pollution and damaged what’s left of our environment.
He used the term ‘You guys’, referring to my generation, and ‘ours’ referring to his. As if I was responsible for what was decided and started 200+ years ago, and as if he had anything to do with solving the problem. In fact, my generation was part of the start of the change, the solution. I explain this to him, and his reaction is: O ok, still staring at the screen. I lose motivation, probably hope of immediate dialogue, and turn to his little sister who just woke up. She’s only three and easy to impress.
Sasolburg - Prieska
My wife wakes me. I dosed off in the car. We arrived at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport. From Johannesburg my wife and I get on a plane back to Cape Town. A couple of minutes after take-off I see in the distance what is likely to be the town of Sasolburg[5]. Tall chimney like towers, characteristic of a chemical plant can be seen in the distance. It is the site where South Africa first started producing fuels and chemicals 94 years ago [source]. At the start of the 2000s, the fuel and chemical industry in South Africa contributed more to CO2 emissions than 100 small countries[6]. Today the situation is much better. In fact, 200 kms away in Secunda[7], which used to be the highest CO2 emitting single plant on the planet [source], the first sustainable aviation fuel was produced from green hydrogen and biomass being the carbon source [source]. Impression of Secunda-based industry in 2020s below:
领英推荐
Figure: industry, source: - File:Sasol Secunda 7.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Today approximately half of the site’s 8,000 billion barrels per day is referred to as sustainable aviation fuel. It fuels this very plane we are on. When I booked our tickets, I made sure flight is carbon neutral – this is standard practice now [source].
We fly South-West over two very distinctive large pipelines lying East-West emerging from that plant. At this altitude they are still clearly visible. These pipelines transport hydrogen from the solar abundant hydrogen hubs in the Northern Cape, to export ports at the coast and industrial users mainly in the Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces. These pipelines reminded me by the look to ones I saw transporting gas to Mozambique:
Figure: pipelines, source: Sasol gas pipelines (Mozambique photo) - File:SASOL Gas Pipeline - Temane - Mozambique.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
I fall asleep again and wake up again about halfway through our 2-hour flight. My eye catches the flight tracking screen and realize we are almost directly over the town of Prieska[8] in the Northern Cape. Prieska started producing green ammonia from renewable hydrogen 15 years ago [source, slide 17]. I look out through the small window and can make out the distinctive round crop circles along the notable twisting Orange River. And some square shaped blue, greyish objects. These are undoubtedly large PV plants, or possibly CSP[9]. Other than that, everything is too small from above to know what’s what. Some of those solar power plants are surely supplying part of the power for the green ammonia plant’s large electrolysers. Although it seems quite small in today’s standards, more than 120,000 tons of green hydrogen is produced for the 70,000 tons of ammonia which is exported though Boegoebaai and Saldanha ports[10]. We fly past some of the great Karoo[11]. Karoo is these days abundant with PV and CSP plants. Once a dry semi-desert mostly unusable, today home to the country’s biggest source of energy, made-up of CSP, PV and even GW scale wind farms. Ironic as it was years back hoped to be a source of natural gas, and today hosts large solar power plants and wind farms as well as green hydrogen, ammonia, sustainable fuels (sustainable aviation fuel), and e-methanol production plants [source] destined to domestic use and exports.
Final thoughts.
Although starting out slowly, South Africa has evolved today to be one of green hydrogen production hubs of the world. At the height of the fossil era, South Africa’s electricity was almost completely generated from coal. Today only 25% coal-based electricity generation remains of more than 90GW available. Approximately 44% (40GW) is wind and solar, with as high as 12% available from green imports [source]. These green imports, predominantly hydro power from East and West Africa, were a dream only 20 years ago. Today we are connected to the world’s largest electricity network, connecting the entire Africa, enabling green electricity trading [source]. The rest of our electricity is from nuclear, hydro and biomass. Apart from this, an additional 47GW solar and 16 GW Wind power plants are dedicated to 28 GW of electrolysis. South Africa already surpassed it’s 2050 green hydrogen production targets and today exports almost 4 million tons of green hydrogen, as hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and sustainable fuel, through four major ports being Richards Bay, Coega, Saldanha and the newly completed dedicated hydrogen export port Boegoebaai. At one time we were home to the largest green ammonia plant in the world at Nelson Mandella Bay [source] and today export at a hydrogen price of well below the US$1.2/kg. Our H2 economy has completely evolved and is still growing fast to meet the demand from Europe and Asia[12].
My wife wakes me again. We’ve landed in Cape Town. After picking up our luggage we catch a cab home. At this point I am tired and just want to get home to a comfortable bed. Getting into our cab I notice it is a battery electric, as almost all cabs are. As is my habit, I check the info screen and notice sufficient charge for our trip. As we drive, I stare out the window and realize the number of hydrogen-fueled transit busses we pass on the way back home. Today, almost all vehicles driving in and around our cities are battery electric, with mostly bus and trucks being hydrogen fueled. I remember the day I took my first trip on a hydrogen bus in Cape Town 19 years ago. Time has certainly not stood still and luckily, nor have technological advancements. South Africa, once struggling to take advantage of our immense renewable resources, today exports those renewable resources all over the world.?
[journey to be continued…]
Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed are purely those of the authors and in no case can they be considered as an official position of the organizations.
The information presented here is based on available public information from announced projects. In any case can be considered a guarantee of what may or may not happen in the future. The author(s) reserve(s) the right to include additional fictional projects or features for the solely purpose of this story.
This is just the beginning of a potential book that we are planning to write. The book would consist of several chapters, each of them highlighting how life would be in different countries if the current announced H2 projects/H2 valleys/IPCEIs had developed. The purpose of the book is mainly educational.
As this is a proof-of-concept, we appreciate your honest and constructive feedback.
References:
[1] See example here Kruger National Park - South African Safari and Lodging Guide (krugerpark.co.za)
[2] See for detailed working of fuel-cell car, here: Alternative Fuels Data Center: How Do Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles Work Using Hydrogen? (energy.gov)
[6] For comparison, in early 2020s whole of SA contributed about 1% of global emissions – see World’s Top Emitters Interactive Chart I World Resources Institute (wri.org)
[10] See similar trend discussed in Study identifies green iron and bunker fuel as key initial domestic markets for green hydrogen (engineeringnews.co.za)
[12] For impressions of industry plans in early 2020s please consult this public presentation available at: ?PowerPoint Presentation (ee.co.za)