By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Inside
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered a keynote speech at Century City, Cape Town today for the inaugural Green Hydrogen Summit, where the president highlighted opportunities to create jobs, open up investment channels and unlock inclusive growth by merging Africa’s wealth in minerals with its renewable energy endowment. President Ramaphosa has highlighted that 52 large-scale green hydrogen projects had been announced across the African continent. “Our beloved continent Africa, the cradle of humanity, is uniquely positioned to become a major player in green hydrogen because it has abundant renewable resources manifested in high solar irradiance, strong winds and hydropower potential.”
Ramaphosa makes mention that by 2050 the Africa Green Hydrogen alliance will aim to produce 30 to 60 million tons of green hydrogen. This alliance includes countries such as Namibia, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt, Mauritania and South Africa. Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced by using renewable energy examples include, solar power, wind and electrolysis. The introduction of Green Hydrogen is to produce clean energy for Africa and to implement a sustainable way to solve the energy crisis that Africa is currently facing and will also contribute to eradicating greenhouse gas emissions. The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosiento Ramokgopa, has made mention that it’s not that Africa has a renewable energy challenge, but more that there is a general power investment in energy overall from the continent. If Africa is to successfully carry out production of green hydrogen it will first need to solve its energy crisis. In the keynote address Ramaphosa made mention that South Africa has invested R1.49 billion in order to fund hydrogen projects as South Africa as well prioritise the Sasol Hyshift Programme which will aim to produce 400,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel annually “To date South Africa has invested more than R1.49 billion in our hydrogen South Africa programme. Through our partnership with the European Union, we have prioritised support for projects like the Sasol HyShift programme, which aims to produce 400,000 tonnes of sustainable fuel annually.” said President Ramaphosa. “HyShift could anchor demand for up to 20 gigawatts of green and represents a scalable model for industrial decarbonisation.” said Ramaphosa in his keynote address.
The minister of Electricity and Energy has expressed his confidence in South Africa to lead the charge of Green Hydrogen production in Africa as it is key to inclusive growth and great way to combat trade discrimination. Minister Ramokgopa has also highlighted that green hydrogen could support 20,000 to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2040.