Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is an honour for me to be speaking to you here today at the launch of this very important science infrastructure.
The facility we are opening here today is one of a series of similar facilities we have established over the years in terms of our National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Research, Development and Innovation Strategy. Just last week, our HySA Systems Centre of Competence at the University of the Western Cape launched one of its first products, a hydrogen fuel cell power generator.
We are also proud to announce that, in pursuit of its mandate, particularly in hydrogen storage, we have significantly supported the upgrading of the laboratory facilities here at the CSIR. We see facilities such as these as part of our response to the global challenge of energy security.
The global energy challenge
As you know, there is a global movement towards developing sustainable energy systems and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, combined with fuel cell technology, has attracted considerable interest from governments, international bodies and commercial companies worldwide.
Energy storage, which includes batteries and other systems that store energy for later use, is rapidly becoming a major focus area and is also becoming a vital requirement for the uptake of renewable energy technologies. However, owing to their variability and intermittent nature, balancing the electricity grid becomes a challenge in respect of increased renewable energy penetration.
You may also be aware that, hydrogen, electrolyser and fuel cell combinations offer a viable and cost-effective method of storing energy on a large scale, especially in instances where the energy is generated during times of low demand. When used as feedstock for fuel cells, hydrogen produces electricity at a high efficiency – with zero emissions – even for applications such as road vehicles and electricity markets. Globally, a number of companies are developing megawatt-scale Proton Exchange Membraneelectrolysers to improve energy storage applications.
The local energy challenge
In South Africa, the Department of Energy (DoE) projects that 40 Gw of new energy generation capacity should be in place by 2030, of which 42% will be derived from renewable energy sources. Of this renewable energy generation, 1Gw is expected to be concentrated solar power, which uses thermal storage, and approximately 17 Gw will be a combination of wind and other renewable energy options, mostly photovoltaic systems.
This creates an opportunity for local energy storage that could play a significant role in on-grid and off-grid applications. In this regard, we have identified energy as one of the critical areas that needs to be consolidated and strengthened in terms of security of supply and access, as well as for environmental protection
As we all know, South Africa needs to reduce its dependence on imported oil and increase the percentage of alternative energy sources in the energy mix. The Integrated Resources Plan for South Africa 2010 to 2030 provides guidance in this regard. For broad-based economic development to take place in the country, access to affordable, safe, clean and reliable energy is crucial.
This is particularly so if we consider the fact that approximately 18% of the South African population resides in remote rural areas and does not have access to electricity via the conventional power grid. The difficult terrain, low housing density and low electricity consumption makes the conventional grid very expensive to install in rural areas. However, off-grid solutions such as solar, wind, hydrogen and fuel cell systems, supported by renewable hydrogen production and energy storage systems, have the potential to bring reliable power to places that were previously isolated.
Equally important is the need for South Africa to reduce its carbon footprint from fossil fuel emissions in order to protect the environment. Emission reduction can be achieved through investing in low-carbon technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cells.
There is also the bigger concern that, in the course of 2014, Eskom declared several power emergencies, prompting the biggest industrial customers to ask serious questions about the utility's ability to deal with a total or partial collapse of the electricity system.
The increased frequency and magnitude of unplanned outages at Eskom's power stations are of grave concern to the members of the Energy Intensive User Group of Southern Africa, which makes a sizeable contribution to the country's gross domestic product. The Energy Intensive User Group is of the view that Eskom can reduce the unplanned outages through better coordination of its planned maintenance activities during the summer months.
The unplanned outages are a clear indication that the current energy system is under strain, and if measures such as diversifying the energy system and energy storage are not introduced to address the issue, the economy will be impacted negatively.
The DST's response
As part of our contribution to resolving these complex and interrelated challenges, in 2010, in its Ten-Year Innovation Plan, the Department of Science and Technology identified significant areas, called Grand Challenges, which need bold interventions in order to steer the economy of the country from a resourced-based economy towards a knowledge-based economy.
We thereby acknowledged that, in order to contribute to the government's broad socio-economic mandate, in particular the need to accelerate and sustain economic growth, a globally competitive knowledge-driven economy is critical.
Furthermore, given the envisaged rapid growth in hydrogen fuel cell technology, the Department developed the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Research, Development and Innovation Strategy as one of its frontier science and technology initiatives to foster proactive innovation and create knowledge and human resource capacity. The Strategy was approved by Cabinet in May 2007. It was formally launched in May 2008 and branded Hydrogen South Africa, or HySA.
The vision of the HySA Strategy is to use local resources and existing knowledge to create crucial knowledge and human resource capacity, enabling the development of high-value commercial activities in hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The overall vision of the HySA Strategy is for South Africa to supply 25% of the global catalyst market by the year 2020, and this goal is embedded in the following primary objectives of the Strategy:
- Wealth creation through value-added manufacturing.
- Development of hydrogen technology infrastructure.
- Equity and inclusion in sharing the economic benefits derived from South Africa's rich mineral endowments.
- Stimulation of the platinum group metals industrial applications.
Practical interventions
To deliver on these key objectives, various centres of competence were established to undertake research and development towards realising the objectives of the HySA Strategy. These centres of competence include the HySA Catalysis Centre, co-hosted by the University of Cape Town and Mintek, the Systems Integration and Technology Validation Centre, hosted by the University of the Western Cape, and the Hydrogen Generation, Delivery and Storage, or HySA Infrastructure, co-hosted by North-West University and the CSIR.
These centres of competence are mandated to deliver technologies for renewable hydrogen production, storage and distribution, and the focus of their current R&D activities is generating cost-competitive hydrogen from renewable resources. The infrastructure needed for this must be cost-effective and provide the best balance between safety, reliability, robustness, quality and functionality.
Overall, this will prepare South Africa to become a significant supplier of material, components, products and subsystems for hydrogen-related applications. For this reason, the key focus of HySA Infrastructure R&D is hydrogen reticulation and delivery, systems integration for hydrogen production and delivery, and platinum group metals recycling.
You may be interested to know that the HySA Infrastructure Centre of Competence has already embarked on a project to study existing safety codes and standards in the use of hydrogen in underground operations. This is logical, because in South Africa mining has been identified as a sector where the use of hydrogen-powered fuel cells could reduce the operational costs associated with the extraction of diesel fumes from underground operations.
It is anticipated that the South African Bureau of Standards will establish working committees to review, adapt or adopt existing hydrogen regulations, codes and standards. Related to this, through our membership of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy, we have facilitated the inclusion of the HySA Infrastructure Centre of Competence in the Regulations, Codes and Standards Working Group of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy. Participation will assist HySA Infrastructure to develop codes and standards that are not only relevant to South Africa, but are aligned with global developments in the hydrogen and fuel cell technologysector.
Recent achievements by HySA Infrastructure
We also proud to state that our investment in hydrogen and fuel cell technology R&D has produced commendable outcomes.
These outcomes include the following achievements:
- In the area of power-to-gas applications, HySA Infrastructure received R150 000 of seed funding from the Technology Innovation Agency for the 2014/15 financial year to conduct market research and business plan development to initiate a power-to-gas technology platform in South Africa.
- Two staff members from HySA Infrastructure will spend up to three months working at Hydrogenics, a major producer of electrolysers in Canada.
- HySA Infrastructure developed an electrochemical hydrogen compression system using platinum group metalsas electrocatalysts, ideal for small-scale applications that can also be used for hydrogen purification. In this regard, the Centre of Competence received co-funding of R4 million from Amplats for further development of the technology, which includes the development of a membrane in order to replace the current commercial membranes.
- A solar-to-hydrogen pilot plant installed at HySA Infrastructure at North-West University has been upgraded to produce 2,5 kg of hydrogen gas per day, up from 0,5 kg. The plant was commissioned in the second quarter of 2014 and is now fully operational.
- Amplats recently donated a container with 10 five-kilowatt fuel cell units from Ballard Power Systems, which was on display during the COP17 meeting. HySA Infrastructure will use its expertise to check the viability of the system and, if necessary, revitalise the system. It plans to use the fuel cell units to power some of the facilities at North-West University, combining it with the increased hydrogen gas output from the solar-to-hydrogen pilot plant.
Concluding remarks
All of these interventions are part of our objectives to establish competence in the areas of platinum group metalscatalysts, hydrogen production, storage and delivery, as well as systems analysis, integration and validationof hydrogen fuel cell systems, and then building on global knowledge to leapfrog existing technology for niche applications to address regional developmental challenges.
Furthermore, our Strategy informed by the fact that South Africa has close to 80% of the world's platinum group metalsreserves. And as you know, pplatinum group metals-based electrocatalysts are an important component of most types of fuel cells. It is therefore envisaged that, with the wider adoption of fuel cells, the demand for platinum group metalswill increase.
Our long term vision is to develop leading and internationally recognised centres of competence, for research and product development, for hydrogen production, storage and distribution that will also enable us to address the development needs of our country and those of our region. We have no doubt that the new HySA research infrastructure here at the CSIR will bring us closer to realising our goals.
I thank you.
