Nov 08, 2021 Ivan Reutener, Philip Konig, Senior Energy Consultant, Royal HaskoningDHV.
Here’s how hydrogen could change the way that South Africa moves
By Ivan Reutener, Smart Mobility and Intelligent Transport Systems Specialist, and Philip Konig, Senior Energy Consultant at Royal HaskoningDHV.
While the country-specific statistics vary, as much as 95% of all greenhouse gas carbon monoxide emissions in cities come from combustion engine exhausts. Harmful gases such as nitrogen oxide from vehicle emissions can cause respiratory conditions, and other pollutants from cars are believed to be carcinogenic too. After rising steadily for decades, in 2020 the COVID-19 crisis triggered the largest annual drop in CO2 emissions since the Second World War, although levels had rebounded by December 2020 and were higher than they had been a year earlier.
As a lower-pollution alternative, electric vehicles, powered by a hybrid solution or dedicated rechargeable battery cells are already available, but there is another option on the horizon that could change how we move around, and how our transport affects the environment too. Vehicles powered by hydrogen cells could dramatically reduce our carbon footprints, with hydrogen having the potential to also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute towards managing climate change.
There are already a few hydrogen-powered vehicles in production and on the roads in a few international markets, such as the Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo; but, closer to home, Sasol and Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) recently announced a partnership to explore the possibilities of developing a green hydrogen ecosystem in South Africa.
“It’s the establishment of that nationwide hydrogen ecosystem that holds such exciting potential for South African road users, and for the country’s whole economy,” says Ivan Reutener, Smart Mobility and Intelligent Transport Systems Specialist at HaskoningDHV.
“There are several obstacles to using hydrogen-powered cars, including that we don’t have a network of hydrogen ‘fuel’ stations, or the infrastructure to harvest and transport hydrogen. However, this could present multiple economic opportunities for South Africa, attracting investment to make these possible,” he says. While this country doesn’t yet have the target for zero internal combustion engines on the roads by 2030 that many in Europe do, it does have access to resources that many of those countries don’t. This includes abundant ocean water, from which hydrogen could be harvested, found along a long coastline that benefits from significant amounts of sunshine and wind.
Why is this important? The hydrogen harvesting process uses a significant amount of energy – and our country is perfectly positioned to build hydrogen production plants that use these renewable resources. This has been made even more appealing by the Department of Minerals and Energy’s recent raising of the independent power producer limit to 100MW.
Once the country has its own hydrogen production facilities providing its product for export to the global hydrogen vehicle industry, it could be more plausible for South Africa to set up the infrastructure required to support hydrogen vehicles. What’s more, once the fuel source is available, our significant network of vehicle manufacturing plants will find value in adapting their factories to produce hydrogen-powered vehicles too.
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