Scientists Urged to Crack Green Hydrogen Cost Barrier

(South African Government News Agency) Sasol has challenged scientists and engineers to help lower the high cost of green hydrogen and prevent promising decarbonisation technologies from remaining indefinitely confined to research laboratories.

The company’s Vice-President for Fundamental Science Research, Dr Theo Mudzunga, made the remarks during a sub-forum on Green Fuels and Aggregated Multi-type Energy Storage Empowering High-quality Development. In his address, he said producing sustainable fuels through power-to-liquids technology remains constrained by costs, efficiency limitations and difficulties in scaling scientific discoveries into commercially viable projects.

The sub-forum is part of the 19th Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai, China, where South African and international researchers, policymakers and business representatives gathered to discuss innovation and technological cooperation. South Africa is this year’s Country of Honour, with Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Professor Blade Nzimande, leading the South African delegation.

“These challenges are precisely where research and innovation can create value. I invite the next generation of scientists and engineers to help us address them,” Mudzunga said.

He added that power-to-liquids technology could allow Sasol to combine renewable electricity, green hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide to produce sustainable liquid fuels. While Sasol’s decades of experience in synthetic-fuel production gave it an advantage, significant scientific and commercial obstacles remain.

“We need further innovation throughout the process. We must improve hydrogen efficiency, achieve higher conversion efficiency, increase yields and reduce overall costs – particularly the cost of green hydrogen, which remains very high.”

Mudzunga warned that scientific breakthroughs alone would not drive the energy transition. Universities, government, research institutions and companies needed to collaborate from the early stages of research through to commercial deployment.

“At the research end, we work closely with universities, government and other organisations to advance fundamental and applied science, access world-class capabilities and develop talent. At the commercial end, industrial partners must be integrated into the process to unlock funding and create markets. Importantly, we must scale up these innovations. If we do not scale them, they will remain research projects,” he said. (READ | SA must build stronger science talent pipeline)

He described the journey between scientific discovery and commercial application as long and complex, arguing that closer cooperation could reduce both the time and risks involved in introducing new technologies.

“By combining fundamental scientific research, development, industrial expertise and engineering, we can accelerate innovation and significantly reduce the risks associated with new technologies. Partnerships are therefore not simply enablers of success – they are a precondition for success,” he said.

Decarbonisation and the energy transition

South Africa’s transition, he said, was particularly difficult because it had to reduce emissions while continuing to pursue industrialisation, economic growth, competitiveness, inclusion and employment.

“These objectives may, at times, appear contradictory, but we believe they can be achieved together through the adoption of technology and innovation,” he said.

Sasol’s operations remain heavily dependent on coal, making decarbonisation both a commercial and societal necessity. Mudzunga said the company’s strategy involves lowering emissions and operating costs while using the transition to establish new businesses.

“No single technology can decarbonise a complex industrial system such as ours. Success will require an integrated portfolio,” he said.

That portfolio, he explained, would include renewable power and feedstocks, greater process efficiency, digital technologies, carbon capture and storage, carbon valorisation and circular-economy initiatives.

“Rather than searching for a single cure or silver bullet, we must combine multiple solutions and deploy them strategically at scale. The energy transition will ultimately be achieved through an integrated approach, rather than through a single technology,” he said.

He said Sasol had already developed expertise that could support sustainable aviation fuel and other low-carbon products. At the same time, its existing industrial facilities could reduce the capital required to scale emerging technologies.

However, future projects would have to be selected according to their feasibility and ability to compete commercially.

“The energy transition is one of the greatest challenges facing our society, but it is also one of our greatest opportunities.

“Through technology, collaboration and sustained innovation, we believe Sasol can play a meaningful role in building a more sustainable future,” he said. READ MORE

Excerpt from South African Government News Agency: Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau says government views green hydrogen as part of a broader industrialisation agenda.

Tau was speaking at the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit currently taking place in Cape Town, Western Cape.

According to Tau, hydrogen is one of the tools together with sustainable aviation fuel, green chemicals and green shipping fuels, advanced manufacturing and new export industries, that will catalyse South Africa’s reindustrialisation.

“These are the opportunities that matter. These are the industries that will determine South Africa's competitiveness in the decades ahead. Our ambition is clear. We must export more value and less raw potential. We must move up the value chain. We must become producers, not merely providers of resources,” Tau said on Tuesday.

He added that through the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) programme management office at the Industrial Development Corporation, government has identified 24 strategic integrated projects, several already through pre-feasibility, backed by 40 million euros from Germany's Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) Development Bank.

“In August, Climate Fund Managers closed the first R3 billion of the South Africa Green Hydrogen Fund, anchored by the European Commission through the Global Gateway commitment secured with the European Union at last year's G20.

“That same Global Gateway has put a further R628 million in grants on the table directly. R490 million to leverage hydrogen infrastructure investment, projected to mobilise R10 billion more, and R138 million to help Transnet green its own operations,” the Minister explained.

He further pointed out that South Africa's industrial transition pathways point to tens of thousands of additional jobs and billions of rand in economic activity over the years ahead.

“I have continuously stressed the need for us to work as a region to build this prosperity. Through platforms such as the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance, we are strengthening cooperation across the continent, because no single African country will build this economy alone, but together we can build a scale that makes Africa's offer to the world impossible to ignore,” he said.

Tau revealed that through the Critical Infrastructure Programme Fund, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) is supporting Hive Hydrogen in developing South Africa’s lighthouse Green Hydrogen project, the Coega Green Ammonia Project.

“This will not only benefit the region but will also contribute to the broader economic landscape of South Africa. This funding announcement today is particularly significant as it practically puts in motion the Decarbonisation pillar of our Industrial Development Strategy.

“Hive Hydrogen concludes financial due diligence, unlocking R12.5 million of R25 million project development funding with a further funding application for R25 million to be submitted at financial close,” he said. READ MORE