Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to welcome all the guests and delegates at this round-table stakeholder meeting, particularly to those who have travelled from abroad and from all over South Africa to join us at this very important meeting and discussion.
Our country received formal recognition as an active member country of the International Partnership of the Hydrogen Economy (or as we all know it, the IPHE) in Germany in November last year hence our being afforded the honour of hosting the 17th Steering Committee meeting tomorrow.
The purpose of today’s round-table discussion is to gain insights from South African stakeholders and to facilitate a dialogue with the IPHE member states on the status and the remaining challenges towards the commercialisation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies on a global level. I have every confidence that the individual and collective wisdom and commitment around this “table”will produce a robust and fruitful discussion.
We all know that the the current global energy system is unsustainable, and is now presenting us with one of the biggest single challenges humanity has ever faced, devastating human induced climate change. And this comes at a time when our natural resources and ecosystems are already straining under the pressure of population growth. The situation has been exacerbated by unprecedented economic growth in developing countries, which has increased the demand for energy beyond any scenario ever deemed likely. Unless new and innovative technologies are developed and put to use, we can be quite sure that the generation that follows us will pay the price for our folly, and our children will certainly not enjoy the luxuries that our generation has taken for granted.
The hydrogen economy has been widely proposed as a viable alternative to our current hydrocarbon economy, which is based on oil, gas and coal. The essence of a hydrogen economy, as you well know, energy is produced when hydrogen combusts with oxygen, and the only by-product from the reaction is water. Currently, however, the hydrogen for hydrogen-powered cars, for example, is produced from fossil fuels. While this is still a big improvement on petrol or diesel vehicles it is only when clean and renewable sources of energy can be used commercially to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, that we will be able to truly claim that we have achieved the critically important shift away from a carbon reliant economy to a sustainable hydrogen based economy.
The energy provided by the sun and wind, if we are able to capture it, have the potential to provide us with more energy than we could ever consume, and do offer the potential to confront the global energy crisis. However, the wind does not always blow and direct sunlight is not always available. This is where hydrogen as a carrier of energy, combined with fuel cell technologies to produce heat and power, offers the important missing ingredient, the ability to capture and store the free and abundant energy from nature, and to be able to release it when we most need it to ensure reliable energy availability at all times for our commercial and household needs. We could carry this captured energy with us in the form of hydrogen and fuel cells to power all our vehicle transport needs. We know this can be done. This is why there is a growing global interest in hydrogen and fuel cells, and why our research endeavors are so critically important. It is as revolutionary as James Watt’s steam engine at the time.
It must be said though that there are many skeptics about the viability and feasibility of a shift towards a hydrogen economy. So let's look at it a bit more closely: is it real or is it just a pipe dream?
Well, the very credible US research company, Pike Research, predicts that over 5,200 hydrogen fueling stations for cars, busses and fork lifts will be operational worldwide by 2020. In 2010 there were only 200.
What is perhaps more compelling is when big companies, who are responsible to shareholders and who are not in the business of taking uncalculated risks, come to the conclusion that hydrogen powered vehicles is the way to go. In an interview at the recent Geneva autoshow, Toyota's head of research and development said that they were intending to produce tens of thousands of hydrogen powered cars by 2020. Toyota plans to begin testing hydrogen-powered vehicles in Japan this year, and have its first fuel cell vehicle on the market by 2015.
This global move from a hydrocarbon economy to the hydrogen economy does not exclude South Africa. Like the rest of the world, our country shares the common vision of ensuring security of supply, reduction of our carbon footprint through the use of cleaner alternative sources of energy and most importantly, to ensure universal access to energy, including to around fifteen per cent of our population that currently do not have access to the grid. In response to this challenge, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has identified hydrogen and fuel cell technologies as one of our frontier science and technology programmes. And we have an additional good reason for wanting to position ourselves in the fuel-cell market - South Africa has more than 75% of the world’s known Platinum reserves. The global emergence of the hydrogen economy will undoubtedly significantly increase the demand for Platinum group metals; present real beneficiation possibilities, and open a window of opportunity for us to join the world's leading countries in fuel cell technology development.
As a first step, the DST developed the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Research, Development and Innovation Strategy, which was officially launched in September 2008. This strategy aims to create wealth through high value-added manufacturing and development of the PGM value chain, with the goal of supplying 25% of the global catalyst demand for the global hydrogen and fuel cells market by 2020. To achieve this, the strategy identifies the need to develop local cost-competitive hydrogen generation solutions.
The strategy will be implemented in two separate but inter-related arenas, namely research and development (R&D) and commercialisation, and in three main phases.
- The first phase comprises the establishment of a national R&D capability, consisting of three established Centres of Competence, based on a hub and spoke model with third parties from both the academia and private sector.
- The second phase comprises the establishment of a commercial platform in the form of a group of public/private entities based on international best practices, which will act as a nucleus for the establishment of a hydrogen and fuel cell technologies industry cluster in South Africa.
- The third phase comprises the successful reduction of participation by government in terms of funding and control through privatisation of these public/private entities, resulting in a local commercially viable industry cluster in the field of hydrogen and fuel cells.
Ladies and gentlemen, launching a strategy, and knowing exactly where you want to take it to, is definitely an achievement, but implementing the strategy in practice is where the real challenge lies. I am pleased to announce that we have completed the first phase of implementation through the establishment of the three Centres of Competence at leading universities and science councils within South Africa. The Centres function in a hub and spoke model with other universities and industry partners. Formal collaborations have already been concluded with the University of Stellenbosch and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, and with the Cape Peninsula and Tshwane universities of technology.
All three Centres are fully functional. I do hope you will find time to view some of their accomplishments in the exhibition hall during the course of the day. Perhaps I could just highlight a few of these. At the University of Cape Town the new Hysa building is under construction; at the University of the Western Cape the Hysa systems has moved to its new premises and at the University of the North West, the old chemical and minerals engineering building has been made available to house HySA infrastructure.
So it’s clear for all to see, ladies and gentlemen, that the host institutions have done a commendable job in putting up laboratory facilities that house the Centres of Competence. Whilst on the subject of universities, we are very encouraged by the fact that to date, a total of five post-doctoral fellows, 21 PhDs and 19 Masters students are being supported by HySA Centres of Competence. A major milestone was reached last year when two South African PhD students graduated from HySA systems, with one being employed as a HySA project manager and the other by HySA Catalysis as a postdoctoral fellow. This is a particularly pleasing achievement, given that human capital development is one of the most critical enabling factors in moving towards a hydrogen based economy.
As I mentioned, we have set ourselves a target of getting a 25% market share of the global fuel cell catalyst demand. This is a target that neither the government nor the industry can reach on its own. In truth, we will not be able to achieve this as a country on our own, which is why this round-table stakeholder meeting is so important to us.
I would like to share with you just some significant milestone achievements since the inception of this programme:
Clean Energy, a South African fuel cell company that will initially market and eventually assemble and manufacture fuel cells, has been established. Secondly, a commercialisation agreement is being finalised with a Norwegian partner for the commercialisation of a hydrogen storage material, a HySA systems patent. And thirdly, HySA Systems, in collaboration with a company called Hot Platinum, have developed a power management system for portable power applications. This device will be demonstrated later this month, on the occasion of Department of Science and Technology’s budget vote.
May I take this opportunity to thank all IPHE member states that are present here for your ongoing collaboration and support, in partnership with our country in moving towards the realisation of this dream, the transition towards a hydrogen economy.
Allow me to conclude with a quote from the late actor Dennis Weaver, who in 2004 led a fleet of alternative fuel vehicles across America in order to raise awareness about America’s dependence on oil. Weaver said, and I quote: “If we had a hydrogen economy worldwide, every nation on earth could create its own energy source to support its economy, and the threat of war over diminishing resources would just evaporate.”
Weaver’s words present us with a stark reminder of the importance of this round-table discussion and of the heavy responsibility that rests on our shoulders. We will be talking about science, yes, but the conclusions we reach could have a profound impact all over the world. If, in Weaver’s words, we can help, even in a very small way, to make the threat of war over diminishing resources evaporate, then let us do just that.
I thank you.
