Page 8 - GLNG Week 28 2022

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

Renergen’s ambition for

South Africa’s Free State

COMMENTARY Stefano Marani, the CEO of South Africa’s Ren- existing options.
ergen, said on July 11 that his company expected “There are three primary customer types,”
to bring the first phase of its onshore LNG plant he told CNBC Africa. “We’ve already signed up
online in Free State before the end of the month. with [corporate] customers such as Consol and
In an interview with CNBC Africa, Marani Italtile, two blue-chip companies in South Africa
described the upcoming launch of the facility’s who are weaning themselves off heavier-carbon
Phase 1 as a milestone. He noted that the unit fuels as well as using it as a source of energy secu-
would be South Africa’s first gas liquefaction rity ... [These] are our industrial customers who
unit, as well as the first helium plant in sub-Sa- are using it for thermal purposes. [Then] there
haran Africa. are other customers who want it as a source of
“When this plant first turns on this month, it energy to get away from load-shedding, so [they]
will make South Africa one of only eight coun- use it to power [their] generators, and it’s about
tries in the world to produce liquid helium,” he 70% carbon reduction in relation to Eskom.
commented. “So it’s quite a big step forward for So it’s a massive reduction in greenhouse gas
the country.” [GHG] relative to Eskom’s power, and it’s signifi-
cantly cheaper as well. And then the third pillar is
Proof of concept in transport. [For] heavy trucks, it’s significantly
He went on to say that Renergen would be cheaper than running your trucks on diesel, and
producing LNG and helium on a relatively it’s the quickest way to get significant ESG cred-
small scale when the plant’s first phase began its because of the significant reduction in green-
operations. house gas [GHG] emissions relative to diesel in
“The output for this is relatively small. It’s these trucks.”
about 300-350 kg of helium per day, which is Marani also highlighted Renergen’s plan to
about one and a half times South Africa’s con- make South Africa a key player in the global
sumption, just to put it in context,” he said. And helium market over the long term, saying that
with respect to LNG, he said, total production the new plant would be exporting all of its liq-
will be equivalent to about 75,000 litres of diesel uid helium production. He drew attention to
per year. the fact that helium shortages had contributed
The primary purpose of the Phase 1 project, he to supply chain disruptions over the past two
noted, was “proof of concept to show that the gas years, explaining that the gas was used in sem-
was there in Free State and we could separate the iconductor and microchip manufacturing, and
LNG from the liquid helium and we could sell also noted that helium was used as a propellant
the two separate streams.” in rocket launches.
Once this milestone has been reached, Rener-
gen can start “working on a much more, let’s call Economic potential
it, global-scale project, which is our phase two He also talked up the potential of the LNG plant
project, which we’re anticipating reaching finan- to fuel job creation and economic growth in Free
cial close in early next year and bringing online State.
in early 2025,” Marani continued. The second While Renergen will probably not hire more
phase of the plant “will obviously be a signifi- than 75 people for Phase 1 operations, rising to
cantly larger endeavour,” he remarked. 150-160 people during Phase 2 operations, he
said, there will be knock-on effects. By making
Domestic sales and exports a relatively low-carbon source of energy availa-
The CEO said that his company would be ble to customers in a part of South Africa with
marketing its LNG to three types of customers low-priced real estate and good access to key
within South Africa – buyers seeking to use it as transportation routes, the project could serve as
industrial fuel, buyers seeking to use it as gener- a trigger for further growth.
ator fuel and buyers seeking to use it as freight “[It’s] not like a traditional mining company,
transportation fuel. For customers in all of these where the mining company becomes the bread-
“primary focus” categories, he explained, LNG basket for the area and the sole employer. This
can serve as a lower-carbon source of fuel than is a catalyst,” he explained. “This is a situation

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