Page 12 - AfrElec Week 42

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
RENEWABLES
Total signs cleantech deal
to produce hydrogen at
refineries
French energy giant Total has signed a cooperation agreement with the Sunfire cleantech company to integrate capture waste heat and CO2 at a German refinery to create synthetic methanol and hydrogen to be used to reduce energy and transport emissions.
Total and Sunfire have signed the agreement for the cleantech firm to provide a megawatt-scale high-temperature electrolyser to be used at Total’s Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland near Leipzig, Germany.
Sunfire’s electrolyser enables the production of hydrogen and is powered
by renewable electricity. The version being trialled by Total can also convert waste gases and heat and the plant into a clean raw material that can replace crude oil or natural gas to be used in the energy and transport sectors.
“Total is delighted to develop efficient technologies to re-use CO2 to chemicals, materials and fuels. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage is going to play an essential role in achieving carbon neutrality without curbing economic and social growth,” said Marie-Noelle Semeria, senior vice president and group chief technology officer at Tot al.
The technology will use waste heat and
steam from industrial processes to reduce the need for renewable energy and electricity at the refinery. Improved efficiency, also means that Total will be able to reduce the overall cost of the integration process.
The technology will be installed at
the refinery next year and production is scheduled for 2021. Total is aiming to generate 500 tonnes of green methanol in the first three years, according to Reuters.
“The use of our high-temperature electrolyser at one of the largest oil companies in the world confirms our years of hard
work driving decarbonisation in large-scale industries,” Sunfire’s managing director, Nils Aldag, said. “This technology can become
the core building block for energy sectors
that cannot source electricity directly from renewables. With the transformation into renewable gases and fuels and the use of existing infrastructures, we can make the transport sector and the chemical industry climate-neutral.”
Nordgold plans 13MW of
solar with storage for
Burkina Faso mines
Nordgold intends to build a 13MW PV plant with battery storage that will provide power to its Burkina Faso gold mines, thanks to an agreement signed with Total Eren and equity investor Africa Energy Management Platform (AEMP).
The Russian miner said in a statement that the construction of the plant, which will reduce its Bouly and Bissa mines’ reliance on thermal power, will begin at the end of 2020.
The French power company and the Mauritian equity investor will develop, finance and construct the PV plant, under the terms of the agreement.
Nikolai Zelenski, Nordgold CEO, said that the plant will reduce costs and create a “more secure power supply” at the mines, which
are found in the centre of the West African nation.
The proposed plant is the latest in a string of renewables projects unveiled by mining companies hoping to improve energy security and efficiency at their operations.
On October 21, the world’s largest mining company BHP revealed that it had signed four new renewable power agreements for
its copper operations in Chile. The power purchase agreements (PPAs) will reduce energy costs at Escondida and Spence mines by 20% – according to BHP – savings that justify a US$279 million price tag necessary to nix existing coal contracts.
Also in October, Baywa r.e. partnered with Canadian miner B2Gold on a US$38 million solar-plus-storage project for its Fekola goldmine in Mali, while Australian power and gas retailer Alinta Energy announced that it would develop a 60MW solar farm that would power a duo of iron operations in Western Australia.
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Week 42 23•October•2019