By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says green hydrogen has the potential to add 3.6% to the country’s GDP by 2050 and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Green hydrogen is said to have the potential to support the expansion of the electricity transmission infrastructure, to add additional renewable energy generation capacity and to support the local development of renewable energy.
Ramaphosa addressed the second Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town on Monday.
Experts see green hydrogen as a critical component in the global transition towards low-carbon and climate-resilient societies.
“The hydrogen economy will provide employment and support to vulnerable workers, communities, and small businesses and contribute to the growth of our medium and big businesses,” Ramaphosa said.
“Being a South Africa where jobs are scarce and unemployment significantly high, this will be a major boost to lowering our unemployment levels.”
Ramaphosa said in addition to the economic benefits, green hydrogen has the potential to remove 10 to 15% of the country’s domestic emissions and contribute to long-term energy security.
“Funding green hydrogen projects will require innovative, creative and new financing structures from multiple stakeholders. If there ever was a time for innovation of packaging, investments, and instruments to enable us to solve the challenge of lack of capital. In this case, capital is not a problem. The problem is being able to package instruments through which investors can invest and to package products properly.”
South Africa recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Netherlands as an off-taker for green hydrogen derivative products.
“It is encouraging to note that a memorandum of cooperation will be signed at this conference by three multinationals in the green hydrogen mobility space, namely Sasol, Anglo-American and BMW,” Ramaphosa said.
BMW, Anglo-American Platinum, and Sasol have announced that they will work together to bring a green hydrogen-powered electric car to South Africa.
Given the mounting pressure to reduce emissions in production processes, particularly due to the European Union’s impending Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which taxes imports based on their carbon footprint, companies are increasingly seeking sustainable solutions.”
The Green Hydrogen Summit will also witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding between three coastal provinces — Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape — with the goal of collectively formulating an inter-regional green hydrogen strategy. This includes the development of shared logistics, infrastructure and manufacturing facilities.
Watch live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of SABC.