Our Burning Planet

South Africa’s ‘green hydrogen’ dream — hype or hope?

Industrial Development Corporation chief operations officer Joanne Bate speaks at a conference in Germany on 7 October 2024. (Photo: Hamburg Sustainability Conference)

By Tony Carnie

3 Nov 2024

Green hydrogen projects could help to expand and strengthen South Africa’s energy grid, allowing more renewable energy projects to be hooked up to the national grid, especially in parts of Northern and Eastern Cape.

Imagine a new water-based fuel that could power large parts of the global economy – without generating any toxic or climate-damaging emissions.

Now imagine that this new wonder fuel is used by all the passenger jets at OR Tambo airport, by hundreds of ships refuelling at local sea ports or the thousands of heavy trucks rumbling down the N3 freeway between Johannesburg and Durban freeway. The clouds of diesel fumes are gone forever, and the air above our biggest cities is safe to breathe again, because steel factories, paper mills or fuel refineries are no longer burning coal and gas.

It sounds almost too good to be true.

After all, water covers roughly 70% of the surface area of the Earth, so the fuel feedstock is not going to run out anytime soon. And, if this clean, water-based fuel can also help to ward off the impacts of the climate-change crisis, what is there not to like about the bold promises made by advocates of “green hydrogen”?

To produce this fuel, water (H₂O) is separated into its two constituent elements (hydrogen and oxygen) by passing an electric current through water. Voila! Oxygen is attracted to the positive electrode and hydrogen to the negative electrode, and you end up with an almost limitless supply of hydrogen fuel with zero carbon emissions.

But if it’s as easy as that, why is it taking so long to catch on?

The notion of hydrogen as a fuel source is not new of course. It’s been on the radar since before World War 2. But the first air passenger experiments with hydrogen gas ended in disaster when the Hindenburg exploded in mid-air following its maiden voyage from Germany to the United States in 1937.

More recently, however, the hydrogen power dream (specifically “green hydrogen”) is back on the drawing boards as governments across the world move slowly towards decarbonising their economies.

Late last year, following the lead of several more technologically developed nations such as Germany, China, Korea and Japan, the Cabinet ratified a new Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy for South Africa.

Germany’s KfW Development Bank has also agreed to provide R400-million in grant funding to accelerate the development of South Africa’s green hydrogen economy and the transition to renewable energy.

Read more: Gas isn’t a good alternative to coal — South Africa should focus on solar, wind and green hydrogen

Developed by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and building on earlier work by Toyota, Sasol, Anglo American and other industry groups during the Hydrogen Valley project, South Africa’s new commercialisation strategy outlines some bold proposals to produce significant quantities of green hydrogen for export and domestic use.

“GH₂ (green carbon) holds potential for decarbonising domestic value chains and contributing to South Africa’s net-zero journey. There are opportunities to decarbonise liquid fuels and chemicals, as well as iron and steel production, for example,” the strategy document states.

This is where things start to get a bit “grey”.

Unlike “black”, “brown” or “grey” hydrogen (produced using coal or gas), “green” hydrogen is produced solely from water, by using electrical currents derived from renewable energy sources such as wind or solar farms.

A table depicting the various colours used to describe hydrogen, based on different feedstock and production methods. (Source: Talking about Green Hydrogen / Heinrich Böll Foundation)

Both the Hydrogen Valley and SA commercialisation reports make frequent reference to the potentially leading role of Sasol in producing green hydrogen products (either at Secunda or Sasolburg).

In principle, cleaning up and repurposing two of the country’s dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fuel refineries sounds like a great thing. But for some observers, the involvement of Sasol and other large industry groups in driving the new green hydrogen agenda has rung warning bells.

H2 Watch SA, a coalition of several civil society and environmental groups, says its members are “deeply concerned with the fast-tracked roll-out of green hydrogen projects across the country and its overhyped framing as a silver bullet response to climate change and the Just Transition”.

H2 Watch SA is also worried about the role of fossil fuel companies at a global level in driving the development of new gas pipelines and infrastructure that are said to be “green hydrogen ready”. In short, the fear is that the green hydrogen miracle story is being massaged to perpetuate the life of the fossil fuel industry.

The San Francisco-based Earthjustice group has similar fears, noting that the fossil fuel industry is currently the primary producer and consumer of hydrogen in the United States.

Therefore, it suggests that: “Policymakers must carefully scrutinise claims about hydrogen’s role in reducing climate pollution because much of the hype around hydrogen comes from the fossil fuel industry, whose foremost interest in protecting shareholder profits may not align with sensible climate strategies.”

Earthjustice claims that oil and gas companies have joined with other big players – primarily chemical and car companies – to form new trade associations to advocate for more hydrogen production in the United States and elsewhere.

Green hydrogen The German airship LZ 129 Hindenburg burst into flames above a naval air station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Sasol steps in

How does South Africa fit into this nascent global hydrogen economy?

As part of its drive to produce up to 650,000 tonnes of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for the global market, Sasol signed an agreement last year with the Danish-based Topsoe technology group.

The 50/50 joint venture proposal between Sasol and Topsoe aims to develop and market new SAF fuels “derived primarily* from non-fossil feedstock, utilising green hydrogen, sustainable sources of CO2 and/or biomass”. (*emphasis added)

In 2022 Sasol also signed a memorandum of agreement with Japan’s Itochu Corporation to jointly study and develop “green ammonia” as a cleaner bunkering fuel for the shipping industry.

During the recent Hamburg Sustainability Conference (7–8 October), Sasol and the Federal Republic of Germany signed the Hamburg Declaration on Green Aviation, focused on blending green hydrogen into existing fossil-based jet fuels.

Senior company executive Sarushen Pillay told the conference that Sasol has been producing synthetic liquid fuels from coal for more than 70 years, using German-developed Fischer-Tropsch technology.

Subject to regulatory approvals in the European Union, he says Sasol is confident that it can start producing significant quantities of hydrogen-based SAF for the global market “quite quickly”, possibly within two or three years.

In a subsequent interview with Daily Maverick, Pillay disputed concerns that Sasol would somehow “launder” grey fossil fuel products into its proposed green aviation fuel.

Nevertheless, Pillay suggests that Sasol’s Secunda and Sasolburg plants can also be “transitioned” gradually towards green fuels, while also producing traditional fossil-derived products.

Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) chief operations officer Joanne Bate (who also spoke in support of SA’s green hydrogen strategy at the Hamburg conference) sees Sasol’s green aviation fuel plan as one of the most promising opportunities to get the hydrogen ball rolling locally.

Bate also points to a recent study by the World Bank’s Global Transport Unit which suggests that South Africa is ideally positioned – geographically and technically – to become to become a leading global supplier of green ammonia marine fuels

Noting that South Africa hopes to create up to 380,000 new jobs via its hydrogen economy plans, the World Bank study also supports the development of two green fuel case studies at the Port of Saldanha in Western Cape and the future port of Boegoebaai in Northern Cape.

Read more: Green hydrogen mega-project stokes community fears of dire economic and environmental losses

Green hydrogen A study by the World Bank suggests that South Africa is located ideally to refuel passing ships with cleaner bunker fuel. (Image: World Bank)

The report estimates that ships visiting South Africa’s eight commercial ports could demand around 56,000 tonnes of hydrogen as early as 2030, increasing to about 530,000 tonnes by 2050.

Most of this demand would come from ships visiting the ports of Durban, Richards Bay, Cape Town and Saldanha. But, given its strategic geographic location, ships passing round the Cape of Good Hope could also refuel at several offshore filling stations.

Bate notes that South Africa’s southerly location creates challenges in transporting green hydrogen fuels to new markets in the European Union, but says the IDC has also been talking to potential customers in Japan and Korea who did not see geographic distance as an insurmountable obstacle.

She also notes that South Africa is home to more than 70% of known global reserves of platinum group metals that are emerging as key components of the electrolysers and fuel cells essential for green hydrogen production and use.

Rather than viewing investment in green hydrogen as a cost to society, Bates suggests that the global drive to decarbonise presents a significant opportunity to re-industrialise the country and create new jobs – as an alternative to continued reliance on social grants to support the unemployed.

“The way to grow is by decarbonsing existing industries, and the sooner we do so the more competitive we become.”

Resource constraints

Green hydrogen Industrial Development Corporation chief operations officer Joanne Bate speaks at a conference in Germany on 7 October 2024. (Photo: Hamburg Sustainability Conference)

Positive as this sounds, however, large-scale hydrogen production still requires huge investments and massive volumes of water and electricity – vital resources currently in short supply in a country ranked as the 30th driest nation in the world and also just emerging from the nightmare of Eskom’s rolling blackouts.

Bate acknowledges these constraints, but suggests that the new hydrogen roadmap may be able to turn problems into lasting solutions.

For example, the IDC commercialisation strategy recommends that no freshwater in coastal areas should be used to generate hydrogen. Instead, the focus should be on desalination of seawater.

The IDC strategy recommends that new desalination plants for hydrogen production should be deliberately over-sized by as much as 300% so that excess water can be made available to surrounding communities. In inland areas, production water should come from heavily contaminated sources that cannot be treated by municipal wastewater systems (such as polluted mine water, acid mine drainage or industrial wastewater specifically in the Vaal region).

“Municipal wastewater should only be used when these other sources are fully exhausted, as industry may need this water source in the future … GH2 production can therefore contribute to water resilience rather than detract from it,” the IDC states.

On the critical issue of electricity, the IDC report suggests that for now, all new hydrogen electrolysers should have their own dedicated renewable electricity generation infrastructure that does not redirect investments away from national electricity security.

The IDC also expects that power generation capacity will have been significantly increased to address the electricity crisis before large-scale renewable energy is required for the new GH₂ projects.

It notes that there are approximately 20 green hydrogen projects hoping to commence operations from 2025 to 2027 onwards. Some GH₂ developers are also considering funding new grid infrastructure as part of the overall project funding.

GH₂ projects could therefore help to expand and strengthen the grid, allowing more renewable energy projects to be hooked up to the national grid, especially in parts of Northern and Eastern Cape. DM

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Sasol steps in

Resource constraints