Page 15 - AfrOil Week 03 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

South African official visits site of

green hydrogen project at Boegoebaai

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa is pushing ahead with its “green industry took a giant leap forward this week
hydrogen revolution,” with a high-level official with the launch of a ZAR75bn ($4.9bn) green
paying a visit to one of its most promising green ammonia export plant in Nelson Mandela Bay
hydrogen sites. in the Eastern Cape. The project is the first of its
Earlier this week, Minister in the Presi- kind in South Africa.
dency Mondli Gungubele joined a delegation The partners behind the project, Hive
from Sasol, Infrastructure South Africa and the Hydrogen, Built Africa and Afrox subsidiary
Northern Cape Provincial Government in Port Linde said in a statement during the launch that
Nolloth for a stakeholders’ engagement and site the project has already generated a great deal of
visit to Boegebaai. interest.
Sasol announced in October last year that They believe the project presents a new area
it had signed a Memorandum of Agreement for South Africa in its commitments to greener
(MoA) at an energy symposium with the North- solutions for industry. According to them, the
ern Cape Economic Development, Trade and renewable energy and energy storage compo-
Promotion Agency, to lead the feasibility study nent of the project alone will be the biggest of
to explore the potential of Boegoebaai as an its kind in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the
export hub for green hydrogen and ammonia. largest globally.
In a statement, the Presidency said the meet- The project will be powered by a 1,000-MW
ing and site visit will serve as an important solar plant, located adjacent to the plant, cou-
interaction between the government and Sasol pled with a 56-MW battery storage component
to implement the MoA. on site, and a 1,400-MW wind farm, which will
Sasol is looking towards projects such as be built further away. The initiative had already
Boegoebaai to lead it into a greener future. The secured an in-principle offtake agreement from
feasibility study is expected to take about 24 a global player, it stated.
months to complete. The export plant is also expected to generate
“This is off the back of national and corporate in the region of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
net zero commitments aimed at keeping global The arrangement for a bankable offtake of
warming below 2 degrees above pre-industrial the entire green ammonia output has been con-
levels. Due to the multi-sectoral implications of cluded well ahead of the first phase going live in
green hydrogen, the Presidency plays a conven- 2025 and full operation getting underway by the
ing and coordinating role across government end of 2026.
with respect to green hydrogen,” the Presidency The plan is for a combined 3,200 MW of
said in a statement. renewable sun and wind energy to electrolyse
The Boegoebaai green hydrogen develop- 3.4 megalitres of seawater a day as part of a
ment has been designated a Strategic Integrated desalination and hydrogen extraction process.
Project (SIP) in the South African National Proton exchange membrane, or PEM, electro-
Development Plan and is located in the Nam- lysers, which generally make use of South Afri-
akwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ). It is 60 km ca’s platinum and iridium metals, will separate
north of Port Nolloth. the hydrogen from the oxygen. The project will
Sasol has partnered with South Africa’s be working closely with salt-making company
Industrial Development Corp. (IDC), which Cerebos, which has a nearby desalination plant
will provide joint funding for the feasibility interested in producing green hydrogen.
study. Nitrogen will be simultaneously extracted
Priscillah Mabelane, Sasol’s executive from the air utilising an air separation unit.
vice-president for Energy, said last year that the The hydrogen and nitrogen will be combined
project would also be anchored by local demand through ammonia synthesis to produce green
for green hydrogen. “It is a tangible step forward ammonia, which will then be cooled, liquefied
for Sasol, as we seek to play a leading role in and stored for export.
establishing the Southern Africa green hydro- The export of 780 000 tonnes per year (tpy) of
gen economy,” she noted. green ammonia is planned from the Coega Spe-
Sasol has been engaging with the Infrastruc- cial Economic Zone (CSEZ) in ships that will
ture and Investment Office of the Presidency to likely be driven by green ammonia themselves
develop a hydrogen economy in South Africa. at that stage, given the fast pace of change. Glob-
ally, demand is rising both for green hydrogen
Green ammonia project launch and for green hydrogen-based products, such as
In related news, South Africa’s green ammonia ammonia and synthetic jet fuels. ™

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