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Abraham Vosloo the Northern Cape MEC for Economic Development and Tourism and executive members of his department this week returned from a three day ministerial meeting in Japan where they looked into exploiting Hydrogen technologies.
The workshop was organised by the national Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Japanese Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry (METI).
The aim of the workshop was to crystallise the partnerships between the two countries on areas of science, research and technology. It particularly focussed on likely collaboration on the development of green-clean Hydrogen energy.
This effort was geared towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals towards a net zero future by 2050.
“This was an important platform for our province as the Northern Cape is emerging as an important player for the production of Green Hydrogen and Ammonia within the Boegoebaai GH2 Development programme which is a Strategic Integrated Programme (SIP)”.
This initial project is a pathway to generate five gigawatts of clean energy by 2035 for the following uses:
– Mobility (Aviation, Long Haul Transport), grid capacity strengthening as well as ex Export (JETP)
The province, through the Northern Cape Economic Development Agency (NCEDA)
have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SASOL.
Furthermore, the province is poised to launch its Green Hydrogen Master Plan which will give credence to the development of a minimum 40-Gigawatt electrolyser.
Vosloo said the province will continue to participate in such hydrogen energy related engagements.
“There is general appreciation that the Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen Programme as a game changer within the context of the provincial development corridor and will reposition our province as a net producer of clean energy for both local and international markets”.
The project is also linked to the Boegoebaai Port and Rail development which is a joint initiative of the national and provincial Government and Transnet.
Vosloo said by now the key elements of the Boegoebaai programme were advancing towards the Request for Proposals stage which will enable the development of the tenth commercial port in South Africa.
According to Vosloo: “Globally there is a broad consensus for low-emission Hydrogen production. As a province we took a bold step to stimulate demand for low emission, green Hydrogen. We will foster international cooperation to enable the certification of Hydrogen products and for the mutual recognition by our countries and jointly address regulatory barriers for project licensing and permits and to support schemes for low-emission Hydrogen production and use”.
The Northern Cape is poised to leverage clean green Hydrogen energy with its natural endowments namely wind and solar, along with the available land mass to support the green Hydrogen development pathways.
The province will soon publish the “Green Hydrogen Masterplan” which is expected to be an important platform for a conversation at the Presidential Hydrogen Summit which will take place mid-October 2023 in Cape Town.
The Summit will be followed by the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Commission (UNFCCC) COP 28 which will take place in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai in December 2023″, he said.
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