Many large energy users do not see natural gas as a viable option for the production of hydrogen, diversified minerals and investment group Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation (SSC) renewable energy head Andries van der Linde has said.

“If we talk to these big mining companies, they say they’re not interested in natural gas. It’s clean, but it’s not green enough. The other thing is that wind and solar, as an alternative energy source, when they start using it, they find that Eskom is actually more reliable. So, they need something to stabilise their energy. Green hydrogen is the solution,” he said.

Van der Linde was speaking at the 2023 Hydrogen Economy Discussion on July 20, where he mentioned that there was also a significant amount of interest in using green ammonia for agricultural purposes. Green ammonia can be made from green hydrogen.

He said SCC’s Jeffreys Bay green hydrogen project is aimed at being the first black-owned project of its kind, and the first wind-to-hydrogen ammonia project in South Africa.

Van der Linde noted that the project would be comprised of 225 MW wind power, along with a 135 MW hydrolysis plant, with a desalination capacity of 912 328 l a day, of which 50% will be made available to the local municipality.

The project will produce 18 850 t/y of green hydrogen for a total investment cost of R7.4-billion.

Van der Linde explained that the project initially started out as a 117 MW project. However, the project’s offtakers said it was insufficient, leading to the project capacity being more than doubled to 225 MW.

“We have already identified new project sites so that we can increase our project so that it's even more economically viable, because we found that when we started the modelling – and everybody else agrees – the bigger you go, the better,” he explained.

Van der Linde noted that climate change and global conflict have both become instrumental stimuli towards green hydrogen proliferation, noting that the Russia-Ukraine conflict alone was driving as much as $73-billion in investment towards hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas.

Moreover, a global shortage of fertiliser made green ammonia more economically viable.

“Our financial modelling indicates that hydrogen can be produced from dedicated wind or solar at prices which make it attractive to local offtakers,” Van der Linde said.