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By Sue Segar – Affiliate Editor at Cape Enterprise Information
THE Freeport Saldanha particular financial zone is poised to develop into one of many first movers to determine a inexperienced hydrogen hub in South Africa – however there may be nonetheless work to be executed.
So stated Kaashifah Beukes, the CEO of the SEZ. In an interview with Cape Enterprise Information, Beukes stated the management on the SEZ is at present working carefully with non-public sector mission builders who’re establishing tasks within the inexperienced hydrogen sector and their derivatives with a view to serving to them arrange enterprise circumstances for his or her tasks.
Beukes, who additionally chairs the SEZ CEO Discussion board, consultant of all of the SEZs in South Africa, stated the previous yr was a yr of laying the groundwork for the institution of the hub, which has entailed an excessive amount of legwork in each coverage and enterprise environments.
“We’ve targeted on highlighting the worth and potential of Saldanha within the coverage setting this yr, set from the 2021 nationwide Hydrogen Society Roadmap by DSI, the nationwide Nation Funding Technique by the Presidency in 2022, the JET-IP introduced at COP27 in 2022, and the Inexperienced Hydrogen Commercialisation Technique printed for remark in December 2022. Provincially, the landmark Western and Northern Cape Authorities’s Heads of Settlement to foster collaborative on the inexperienced hydrogen economic system and related investments signed throughout October final yr, additionally offered readability to us and buyers’ readability that “GH2” is a precedence for each provinces to draw funding, develop the economic system, enhance local weather change resilience, and facilitate employment.
“We’ve additionally targeted on working with mission builders on their pre-feasibility research and their feasibility research, and dealing in direction of establishing their enterprise circumstances, their technical standing, and the necessities for his or her tasks.
“It’s actually necessary, head down work, the place we work with the mission builders to determine what the probabilities are and the technical, environmental and monetary necessities of the tasks,” Beukes stated.
“This section is a really obligatory one, which is able to assist to make clear and agency up what is required from the general public sector and from the non-public sector if we’re to reach establishing this hub.”
The position of the Freeport, she continued, is “to be a catalyst” which is able to assist facilitate the institution of the hub. “For instance, whether or not there are regulatory reforms or new devices wanted or the place extra infrastructure planning and execution is required.
“We actually are within the section of bedding down the monetary, technical and environmental necessities for the tasks in order that these corporations will, subsequent yr, be able to take funding choices.”
Corporations that are establishing inexperienced hydrogen tasks embrace Sasol and ArcelorMittal.
“Sasol is supplying ArcelorMittal with inexperienced hydrogen and is at present concerned in a pre-feasibility research, with which the Freeport is aiding.
“They’re wanting into supplying the inexperienced hydrogen to be used within the metal mill to breed inexperienced direct lowered iron (DRI). They have been beforehand doing this utilizing electrical energy from the grid – however that has develop into more and more pricey.”
Beukes stated because the institution of the SEZ in 2014, these on the helm have been laborious at work establishing the zone. “It was greenfield once we began operations; there was nothing on the positioning, so we needed to begin from scratch, with getting zoning, environmental affect assessments and many others. We’ve now serviced the land, we now have the mandatory setting permits in place, and we now have executed fairly intensive work to create an enabling setting from the regulatory facet, and to set it up as a customs management space (which was designated in 2019) and we now have additionally secured agreements with the Transnet Nationwide Ports Authority and helped work with them to deliver the offshore provider base to fruition.
“A part of establishing this enabling setting has been to do work within the expertise growth house in order that we generally is a catalyst between buyers and the labour market, so we now have additionally educated over 2 500 individuals in related artisanal expertise.
“Via our Saldanha Bay Innovation Campus programme, we’ve been serving to startups acquire market entry and finance.
“We’re firmly dedicated to place ourselves on the decarbonisation observe by means of supporting mission builders on their inexperienced hydrogen tasks and ambitions.
“Saldanha has good wind and photo voltaic availability; it’s fairly a singular place because it has an industrial base already and its location near the port, and to the prevailing port and rail strains means it’s properly positioned to work carefully into the long run with many non-public sector mission builders on their tasks of their inexperienced hydrogen sector and their derivatives.
“The non-public sector is below rising stress to decarbonise their merchandise and to stick to the local weather change targets which were set for 2030. Each the non-public sector and the federal government are responding to this want by means of coverage and regulatory reform. This stress is a driver for us.
“I believe we are going to see a few of these tasks come about within the subsequent three years. They won’t be the massive tasks but – however we are going to begin with pilot tasks and develop from there.”
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