Cabinet approves green hydrogen commercialisation plan

The move, according to the Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, will ensure South Africa becomes a major producer and exporter of green hydrogen.

“Government has identified possible funding for green hydrogen projects and the draft Green Paper received extensive feedback from stakeholders,” she said on Thursday.

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The Minister was briefing the media on the outcomes of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

Ntshavheni explained that the GHCS gives effect to the Hydrogen South Africa Strategy that was approved by Cabinet in 2007 to prepare the country for a hydrogen economy.

Successful summit

The strategy is framed within the Hydrogen Society Roadmap developed by the Department of Science and Innovation and approved by Cabinet in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Executive Authority welcomed the hosting of the second South Africa Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town last week.

“Green hydrogen has the potential to add additional renewable energy generation capacity and to support the local development of renewable energy,” the minister said.

On the sidelines of the summit, South Africa concluded Heads of Agreements with the intention of launching an SA-H2 Fund that will facilitate the development of the country’s green hydrogen sector.

The aim, the Minister said, is to attract $1bn in funding.

She estimated that the hydrogen economy has the potential to add 3.6% to the country’s gross domestic product by 2050 and approximately 370,000 jobs.

Electricity

In addition, Cabinet was on Wednesday updated about Eskom’s generation systems performance for the period ending 16 October 2023.

Data shows that Eskom’s power generation capacity is currently averaging 28,615MW in comparison to 27,410MW in May 2023.

Cabinet was also informed of the decline in unplanned outages due to plant breakdown to average 13,743MW compared to 17,369MW in May 2023.

“This is largely as a result of effective plant maintenance,” Ntshavheni explained.

“Cabinet welcomed the addition of another 800MW to the grid with the return of Kusile Unit 1 ahead of schedule. The additional capacity will help reduce higher levels of load shedding.”