Saldanha is set to become a major player in the Western Cape green-hydrogen cluster, and international investors are already looking to the region for future green-energy solutions.
A delegation of stakeholders, with representatives of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) making up the majority of the visitors, were on the West Coast on Friday for this reason.
Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, using renewable electricity such as wind or solar power. According to Susumu Kataoka, president of JETRO Tokyo, South Africa’s focus on hydrogen energy solutions is what drew the delegation. “We received an overview of a variety of sectors,” he said, “but the emergence of green hydrogen in South Africa is of particular interest.
“This is the last day of our visit, and it was important for us to see the operations on ground level for ourselves.”
The South African visit, which started in Gauteng on Monday 12 February, came after a series of online seminars last year, organised by JETRO Johannesburg.
On Friday, the group’s morning started at the local ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa) steel mill, which has been non-operational since March 2020, before heading to Freeport Saldanha and then across the road to the Port of Saldanha. Plans to establish the Phelan Green Energy Group’s Green Hydrogen-Ammonia plant to the tune of R47 billion is already in the works. Saldanha Bay’s Executive Mayor, André Truter, said the region is primed for the investments to come. He explains investors need water and electricity, roads, and they will need to be safe and to have an airport.
Funatsu Naodki of the Hanwa Company explained to Weslander his company believes a hydrogen solution will became a key technology, and said South Africa had potential to establish the sector. For Kohei Yasuda, of Marubeni-Itochu Steel, the visit to Amsa’s steel mill was of great interest, but like many other stakeholders his company sees the potential of the hydrogen green-energy sector.
For the team from Freeport Saldanha it was an opportunity to sell the development and the role it will play in the establishment of the sector of green hydrogen.
Vanessa Davidson, special project manager for Freeport, explained the easy access to Transnet’s railway and port is definitely advantageous for investors. Along with this access, she said, is access to the available land, to a skilled workforce and the relative proximity of Cape Town.
All of this added to Freeport Saldanha’s positive attributes, according to Davidson. “We see a significant opportunity for exports for our investors, and certainly to Japan, and we are also a logistics gateway.
“In the long run we also have the vision of becoming a manufacturing hub.”
Davidson said Freeport’s goal is to create a circular and sustainable hub for investors, which could include recycling and exports, among others.
