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South Africas hydrogen potential is once again on display in the signing of an MoU between Omnia Group and WKN Windcurrent SA to evaluate the onsite production of green hydrogen and ammonia at a Sasolburg fertiliser plant.
A positive result from the collaboration would make the plant less dependent on ammonia imports. This will make the company less dependent on unreliable rail logistics and help their decarbonisation efforts. Green ammonia produced in the creation of hydrogen would replace the more C02 intensive process. Ammonia is an important input for ammonium nitrate fertilisers and explosives manufacturing.
The envisioned new ammonia production plant would be powered by renewable energy from hybrid sources - wind and solar power developed by WKN. The objective is to produce competitively priced green ammonia at a capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes a year, which would result in a reduction of C02 emissions.
The collaboration supports the implementation of the South African governments strategy to develop a green hydrogen economy by harnessing South Africas abundant natural resources of sun and wind to generate renewable energy. The governments Just Energy Transition Plan through financial support from Germany and other countries has mobilised around $8.5 billion in grants and support to accelerate the countrys transition to enhanced renewable energy sources.
Green hydrogen for decarbonisation and energy transition goals
Seelan Gobalsamy, Omnia CEO, pointed out that as a chemicals group which works with the agriculture, mining and manufacturing industries, they are always looking for new technological solutions. "Onsite production of green ammonia will significantly reduce our C02 emissions, embed sustainability into our products, and support the countrys green energy transition," said Gobalsamy.
Markus Lesser, PNE CEO said green hydrogen and its downstream products are key to facilitating South Africas decarbonisation and energy transition goals.
"For our group of companies, this is also an important step in the implementation of
our Scale up 2.0 strategy, in which solutions around Power-to-X play a significant role," said Lesseer. |
