CHEM Energy South Africa’s fuel cell technology is the shift the telecommunications industry needs to mitigate the challenges of continuous power interruptions, battery theft, vandalism and rising carbon emissions.

The already established fuel cell technology has the potential to revolutionise the industry, with CHEM Energy SA aiming to leverage its state-of-the-art fuel cell manufacturing facility at the Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone, in Durban, to accelerate the adoption of the reliable power alternative for telecommunications towers and bolster the establishment of South Africa’s imminent hydrogen economy.

CHEM Energy SA’s locally manufactured telecommunications fuel cell solutions are a clean, innovative, reliable and lower-cost alternative to noisy, polluting, imported diesel generators, says CHEM Energy SA president Angelin Maharaj.

They reduce the cost of power, increase network reliability and uptime, reduce theft and vandalism, and significantly reduce emissions while providing critical backup and primary power to telecommunications companies.

Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone CEO Hamish Erskine believes that the development and rollout of hydrogen fuel cell power generators is an important step in ensuring the stability of South Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure.

“South Africa can ensure a reliable communications network and power to every-one, anywhere, anytime, without importing polluting diesel generators, diesel fuel and batteries today, using fuel cells and fuel made in South Africa, by South Africans, and playing a key role in rebuilding the economy,” Maharaj explains.

No longer just a future concept, CHEM Energy SA director Hal Koyama points out that fuel cells as a power source are gaining ground over conventional sources of power in China, the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea.

With over 5 000 fuel cell units installed in tower sites across Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Japan – where NTT DOCOMO has deployed over 600 systems – and South Africa, where over 200 units have been installed across Vodacom tower sites since 2011, CHEM Energy has proven the success and reliability of the technology, with continuous improvements being seen in the technology, fuel distribution and service in some of the most difficult grid areas.

While diesel generators are relatively 

cost effective to initially deploy, they require a lot of maintenance and are plagued with reliability problems, in addition to high, and volatile, diesel costs, generator and fuel theft and vandalism, Maharaj says, adding that where fuel cells have been installed, there has been a reduced rate of vandalism and theft on the site.

The G5 system, which is produced in South Africa, has a compact footprint for a 5kWe building block, which can be increased in increments of 2.5kWe, and integrates well with any other generating and energy storage technology, such as solar or wind, allowing for a flexible system as needs and opportunities change.

The technology uses a methanol/water mix to generate hydrogen that provides for a quiet and scalable energy solution that is greener than diesel generators, with lower carbon emissions and almost no Nitrogen oxides, Sulphur oxides or particulate matter emissions.

A range of functions, including the basic output, fuel status and online statistics, as well as more detailed warnings, alarms and diagnostics, can be monitored and controlled centrally, or in a distributed manner, from a smart phone, with the company offering parts and operational guarantees for the performance of the systems with CHEM Energy SA’s service partner 24 Solutions.

In addition, the company is able to rapidly double its current 1 500-unit production capacity without expanding its factory. 

CHEM Energy SA’s significant multimillion-rand investment into its facility, completed in March 2020, also contributes to the national objectives of job creation, high-tech manufacturing, beneficiation, exports and skills, knowledge and intellectual property transfer, in line with South Africa’s hydrogen economy ambitions.

Then-KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube, at the time, had said that the facility represented a milestone accomplishment for foreign investment, the rapid expansion of the adoption of the important technology and the growth of highly skilled jobs in the new industry sector.

Partnering with global technology leaders and bringing the investment into South Africa spurs more investments in support of the technology, developing existing industries and establishing new industries, thereby effectively building an ecosystem that has a multiplying effect economically and socially.

“We have worked with several suppliers of printed circuit board assemblies, pressurised tanks, wire harnesses and other smaller parts. To date, we have achieved 20% content localisation with our target being 80% at full capacity,” says Maharaj.

“If adequately supported, by both the private and public sectors, the overall development of a broader hydrogen economy in this country has the potential to spur the localisation of an entirely new renewable energy sector, ensuring a stable and reliable energy supply, while creating jobs and further diversifying our economy,” Erskine adds.

The product has been proven technically and commercially for more than a decade and it is ready to start contributing immediately. It just requires leadership and the removal of various adoption barriers, says Koyama.

“South Africa’s challenge is in adopting the technology and the government has an important role to play in supporting the hydrogen fuel cell ecosystem in South Africa and boosting foreign direct investment,” he concludes, noting that top down initiatives are required for telecommunications companies to integrate fuel cells into their supply chain.