CHEM Energy SA has significant hydrogen fuel cell projects in the pipeline for the telecommunications industry that should see its Dube TradePort-based factory gear up production that was grounded by Covid-19 in early 2020.
The factory, completed as the pandemic locked down the country, produced only what was needed to support its cellular network client, but “things seem to be settling down this year and telecommunications companies are assessing their capital budgets and requirements,” said CHEM Energy director, Hal Koyama.
The company, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Taiwanese heavy equipment manufacturer, CHEM Corporation, is focused on producing the latest generation of fuel cell products for back-up and continuous (off-grid) telecom power solutions. As a hydrogen infrastructure provider as well as a hydrogen fuel cell power generation provider, CHEM sees an enormous opportunity to start a hydrogen economy in South Africa, particularly as the country has a national green energy programme.
The company’s core business is to supply cellular telecommunication stations with power, especially in areas of weak power supply or no grid.
It has deployed over 3 000 systems globally.
Koyama said CHEM’s R170 million factory at Dube TradePort was a cornerstone to build up a green hydrogen ecosystem. “Once you have hydrogen power generation, it can be expanded to bring innovative technology companies into South Africa to support that growth. The opportunity is now for South Africa to start that growth cycle.”
The potential for fuel cell (5G) technology to support power generation within South Africa and the continent was a key factor in CHEM’s decision to set up production locally.
“Power is a challenge throughout the continent.
“We see opportunity in SA to support the network and other sectors, but we see a ten times greater opportunity outside SA,” said Koyama.
CHEM Energy president, Angelin Maharaj, said the firm had focused on localising the supply chain.
Koyama urged the government and local businesses to seek opportunities to get involved in the transition to hydrogen fuel cell technology and to follow China’s example, which, in the past three years, had invested tens of billions of dollars in building thousands of trucks and buses that will run on hydrogen fuel.
He said that instead of importing diesel generators as a stand-by for electricity outages, hydrogen fuel cells could be used as a direct replacement.
CHEM Energy manufactures a five-kilowatt/hour hydrogen fuel cell, and products generating 100 kilowatts/hour are also in the pipeline, at which level they could start to help Eskom restore grid reliability.
“There isn't any silver bullet to fixing things that are going on now, but hydrogen fuel cells should be part of the solution,” said Koyama.
CHEM Energy uses methanol (CH3OH) as the liquid carrier of the hydrogen in its fuel cells.
Biomass, reverse electrolysis and even carbon emissions can be used to produce methanol, and there are efforts under way in this field in anticipation of a hydrogen economy.
A less obvious element in the hydrogen economy that is slowly becoming known, is that SA has the capability to make its own hydrogen fuel.
Sasol makes methanol as a by-product of its processes but in the future the country could have a completely renewable source of methanol and other power sources, to reduce dependence on imported fuel and large volumes of coal.
