Green Hydrogen production is touted as an important future alternative fuel globally and according to Internal Renewable Energy Agency’s World Energy Transitions Outlook, fully implemented, it could meet up to 12 percent of final energy consumption by 2050.
It presents enormous economic opportunities for developing and emerging markets like South Africa where our bountiful supply of minerals and renewable energy resource puts us in a prime position to maximise the array of opportunities this fairly new sector offers.
For this reason, the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) in collaboration with The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and The Renewables Academy (RENAC) has launched a series of webinars and workshops to capacitate and inform interested parties on the current status of green hydrogen worldwide and opportunities for domestic development. Since the first webinar in March 2022, significant strides have been made in promoting broad understanding and dialogue on critical aspects of this sector. Separated into three clusters of topics, these webinars have focused on Strategy Development and Regulatory Frameworks (cluster 1); Private Sector Participation and the Green Hydrogen Economy (cluster 2).
The last webinar for 2022 will take place on 8 November and sets the focus on skills for the Green Hydrogen economy, jobs as well as co-benefits of Hydrogen (H2) in South Africa. Guests include Wendy Poulton, Founder of Strategic Mindsets.
Wendy has extensive experience in the fields of energy, sustainability and strategy, and she is passionate about the role that people play in strategy development, risk management and ultimately decision making. During the webinar, she will talk about how South Africa can become globally competitive in green hydrogen, via developing an “ecosystem” of skills.
In the new year (March 2023) SANEDI will host a number of on – site visits which includes:
- The Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone earmarked for green hydrogen fuel exports;
- Mogalakwena in the Waterberg District of Limpopo – where the envisaged uptake of green hydrogen has the potential to fuel mining trucks for diamond, copper, titanium and platinum