Investment in “green” hydrogen production plants across Africa will create a pipeline of project cargo needs.In addition to the building of massive solar and wind farms and hydrogen production plants, new bulk transport value chains for both hydrogen gas and liquid ammonia will also need to be built.Looking at similar projects around the world, the building of a green hydrogen facility takes between two and three years. In May 2022, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Namibia and Mauritania launched the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance to foster the development of green hydrogen at COP26.Each of the countries has significant green hydrogen plants in the pipeline, or where work has already started. Much of the production is destined for export, which will require new storage and transport infrastructure from the manufacturing facilities through to the ports for the transfer to bulk carriers and then on to the final destination. According to the United States Department of Energy, storage of hydrogen as a gas requires high-pressure tanks (5000–10,000 psi tank pressure). Liquid hydrogen requires cryogenic temperatures because the boiling point of hydrogen at one atmosphere pressure is -252.8°C.Hydrogen can be stored as enriched compoundHydrogen can also be stored as an enriched compound such as ammonia, methane and methanol. Ammonia is the preferred compound as it the only carbon-free hydrogen carrier and can be synthesised from renewable sources, according to Joseph El Kadi, Collin Smith and Laura Torrente-Murciano, writing in the Chemical Engineer.“Windy” and/or “sunny” are the two main drivers behind green hydrogen production in Africa.South Africa has an additional advantage, which is the presence of platinum-group metals used as catalysts in the production of green hydrogen and ammonia.According to Kieran Whyte, Johannesburg partner at Baker McKenzie, South Africa is planning four large-scale catalytic green hydrogen projects.The Platinum Valley Initiative (PVI) is a hydrogen corridor which will link the Anglo American Mokopane Platinum Mine to Johannesburg and Durban.The core market will be heavy-duty fuel-cell trucks to replace diesel power.The COALCO2-X project in Mpumalanga plans to use green hydrogen and coal power station f lue gas pollutants to meet emission reduction goals and create value-added products, such as fertiliser salts, for export.Sasol is leading Boegoebaai projectSasol is leading the Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen Development Project, located in the Namakwa Special Economic Zone in the Northern Cape. The project has an established hydrogen production plant and is a designated Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) in the South African National Development Plan. It will consist of seven key facilities, including the construction of a deep-water port, the use of 30GW of wind and solar, and a battery park to power 10 GW of electrolysers by 2030. The project will include the production of green ammonia linked to green hydrogen for export and for use as maritime fuel and feedstock, according to Whyte.Sasol is also playing a leading role in the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) project. In April 2022, Sasol confirmed it would first manufacture hydrogen using its existing electrolyser units and ammonia plants. Sasol aims to produce 3.5 tons a day for local use, and down the line it will build greenfield projects dedicated to green hydrogen for export purposes, including participating in the German government's H2Global auction programme.Egypt has a $40bn pipeline of green hydrogen projectsWith its close proximity to European markets, Egypt has a $40bn pipeline of green hydrogen projects.Projected production of over 1.57-million tons of green hydrogen a year will put it among the top three producers in the world, after Australia and on par with Mauritania.Around 80% of the green hydrogen projects will be situated in the Suez zone, a global logistics hub which connects Europe, Africa, and Asia through the Arabian Gulf.Given offshore wind speeds averaging over 36 kilometres an hour and among highest solar radiation levels globally, Mauritania has the potential to be the lowest-cost African producer of green hydrogen.With up to 10GW of electrolysis capacity, Project Nour could become one of the largest green hydrogen projects globally by 2030, according to the developers, Chariot.In addition, Australia’s CWP Global signed an MoU in May 2021 to construct the 30GW wind/solar/green hydrogen Aman plant in the country’s northern desert.Namibia is set to start producing 300 000 tons of green hydrogen a year through a wind and solar facility being developed by Hyphen Hydrogen Energy near the port of Lüderitz Bay. According to the briefing for the environmental impact study, it will require 500 wind turbines. The first $4.4bn phase is set to generate 2GW of renewable electricity by 2026 for the production of green hydrogen production and carries an estimated cost of $4.4 billion.Planned further investment will take generation capacity to 5GW at a cost of $9.4bn.The project is forecast to produce 1.2 to 1.5m tons of green ammonia (NH3) a year for the export market. None of the required infrastructure is currently in place. A single buoy mooring is proposed for the transfer of the ammonia to vessels. Morocco’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Environment has announced the HEVO Ammonia Morocco project, which will produce around 183 000 tons of green ammonia a year.Green hydrogen projects are to be piloted in KenyaGreen hydrogen projects are to be piloted in Kenya by the government, according to energy cabinet secretary Monica Juma.A national green hydrogen working group comprising stakeholders from the public and private sectors has been set up to define a roadmap on the future of green hydrogen in the country.
