The CEO of ThyssenKrupp Uhde SSA, Rajend Govender, speaks at the Namibian Green Hydrogen Conference hosted by: The Economic Association of Namibia (EAP); Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB); and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
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“As a regional subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp AG, internationally recognised for engineering, procurement, construction and service, ThyssenKrupp Uhde has been servicing the Sub-Saharan African region since 1959,” begins Rajend Govender, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Uhde SSA.
“Our historic primary focus included refinery, petrochemical, specialty and fine chemicals technologies within each of these sectors. As a proudly environmentally-conscious company, however, our focus has grown. And we are now the proud owner of a large portfolio of chemical process technologies, including those for the production of green hydrogen, green ammonia and green methanol,” he continues.
Members of the public, communities and, most importantly, young people are calling for a greener and more sustainable planet, which is increasing pressure to phase out fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emitting industries. “We are also faced with the dilemma of high unemployment, a lack of industrialisation and many other socio-economic issues, so a deliberate approach to this transition will be essential,” he points out.
He says that the take up of hydrogen technologies, although well known, has been slow, but this is rapidly changing, driven by three factors:
- Governments worldwide prioritising net zero emissions.
- The plummeting cost of renewable power, which is improving the attractiveness of hydrogen production.
- Ongoing innovation reducing the cost of electrolysers.
Namibia’s favourable solar and wind resources, coupled with vast open spaces, offer the long-term potential to produce green hydrogen at prices significantly lower than anywhere else in the world. In general, an energy mix of two thirds wind and one third solar improves project feasibility.
Furthermore, continental cooperation through the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance and Namibia’s stable political environment, public and private sector support enhances its position as a potential leader in global green hydrogen production.
A recent study performed by ThyssenKrupp Uhde estimates the total landing cost of GH2 exported from Namibia into Europe to be as low as US$2.9/kg based on a production cost of $1.5/kg. This is 10% lower than the closest competitor, Saudi Arabia.
The production of hydrogen via electrolysis is well proven. ThyssenKrupp Uhde has been producing hydrogen for more than 50 years via its Chlor-Alkali electrolysis technology, which has been adapted to electrolyse water to produce green GH2 and has a technology readiness level (TRL) 9. This means the technology is considered to be ‘flight proven’ – “and our 7th Generation electrolyser will offer improved GH2 production performance at further reduced power consumption – and within a smaller footprint,” Govender adds.
The global GH2 demand as published by IRENA is currently 150-million t/a with a forecasted 800-million t/a by 2050. The ThyssenKrupp Steel Mill in Duisburg Germany, plans to introduce green hydrogen into blast furnaces to produce green steel. The annual demand for GH2 per blast furnace starts at approx. 20 000 t/a and is expected to increase to 720 000 t/a by 2050. ThyssenKrupp and companies across Europe are looking at the likes of Namibia for this GH2, simply due to landing costs and the ability to meet sustainable production rates.
The transport of GH2 to Europe poses a huge challenge. Gaseous hydrogen occupies large volumes and must therefore be compressed. Containment at these high pressures requires the use of special materials and vessels to limit hydrogen induced cracking, which renders this unfeasible.
While hydrogen can be transported as a liquid and converted to gas at the point of storage or use, this requires the energy intensive liquefaction process, which itself is not economically feasible. Focus then shifts to hydrogen carriers, including Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) development, which remains in its infancy.
Green Ammonia is considered as the most feasible medium to carry hydrogen across large distances. The technology and logistics infrastructure is widely available and has been in operation for decades, licensed by the likes of ThyssenKrupp.
The benefit for the conversion of GH2 to GNH3 is immediate for the African continent. Green ammonia is used for the production of fertiliser products such as urea and ammonium nitrate, thereby helping to decarbonise the food value chain. Recent global conflicts and the disruption of the fertiliser supply worldwide is highlighting the need for self-sufficiency.
This can be addressed by regionally distributed production of green ammonia across Africa using currently-available modular green ammonia production plants.
Ammonia is also attracting attention as a sustainable alternative fuel. Specialised internal combustion engines are currently being developed. A recent survey of shipping sector stakeholders published by Lloyd’s List identified ammonia as one of the top three fuels with potential by 2050 and that ammonia usage to fuel ships will grow to 7% by 2030. Bunkering of NH3 fuel at its ports will hold Namibia in good stead in this endeavour.
As well as a clean energy carrier to store or deliver energy for power generation or mobility, GH2 can be used to create a suite of products including green ammonia, green methanol, synthetic fuels and synthetic natural gas.
When green hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide, green methanol can be produced, which can be added to conventional liquid fuels for cleaner emissions during combustion or used to fuel 100% methanol-based drive systems.
Leading shipping companies are also investigating the use of methanol to fuel conventional combustion engines and methanol-powered fuel cells. The great advantage of methanol is that existing infrastructure for liquid fuels can be used, either directly or following easy and inexpensive modifications. Synthetic natural gas (SNG) is produced by combining green hydrogen with carbon dioxide in a process called Methanation. Applications of SNG include heating, mobility and energy conversion.
Hydrogen can also be used to produce sustainable aviation fuels such as green kerosene via the Fischer-Tropsch process. In addition, new propulsion technologies, such as hydrogen direct combustion in turbines, are currently in development.
Significant challenges remain, however, with respect to the scale-up of GH2 production.
- High production cost: Currently the production cost of green hydrogen varies between US$3/kg to $6/kg, while that of grey hydrogen is between $1 and $1.5/kg. The single largest cost component for competitive green hydrogen production is the price of renewable energy (RE), with RE electricity pricing of less than
$20/MW paramount for economical production. Since Namibia is endowed with favourable solar and wind resources, however, the price of renewable energy is expected to plummet with the scaled implementation of renewable power projects. - Electrolyser investment cost: The upfront investment into electrolyser technology is deemed exorbitant, specifically in the context of unsecured demand. This is forecast to reduce significantly with continued innovation and the deployment of the technology at scale. The Chinese government is evaluating the installation of some 100 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030. With only 1 GW in operation currently and 10 GW planned, this translates into a massive expansion of electrolyser production – implying substantial unit cost reduction.
- Unsecure demand: With the green hydrogen industry in its infancy and green chemical value chains yet to be established, potential consumers of green hydrogen are reluctant to commit to off-take agreements. Development of the hydrogen economy will require large investment commitments from both producers and consumers. In the absence of off-take agreements, investments remain risky for wide-scale production. To address this, supportive legislative framework and policies are crucial. Namibia is championing the development of such frameworks and policies.
- Environmental concerns: The quantity of the water needed to produce hydrogen is a challenge, especially for countries with water scarcity. In this respect, Namibia remains a super power, with access to a large untapped coastline for desalination. Desalination plants, however, release brine which poses a threat to marine life. Environmentally responsible means of brine disposal such as injection wells have to be considered, which introduce additional costs and complexities.
- Local manufacturing: Project scale and timing in the Namibia region may not be conducive to the establishment of key technology components such as electrolysers. The local manufacturing of more general items, however, such as tanks and structures can still provide significant manufacturing development and job creation. The manufacture of repeatable components will also drive capital cost down and allow for future optimisation of maintenance costs.
Significant funding is available for GH2 production projects. What remains lacking in Africa is the seed funding required to take potential opportunities into bankable projects. The funding mechanism for feasibility studies and facilitation of the regulatory environment are key to rapid project development.
In conclusion, Govender says: “We believe that the global energy system stands at the crossroads of a new era. This is largely due to rapidly declining renewable energy costs, advances in production solutions and economies of scale.
This will potentially make hydrogen the medium of choice for transporting cheap clean energy across the globe, generating a green hydrogen export market estimated to be worth $300-billion by 2050, and creating more than 400 000 jobs globally.
“If Namibia takes its place at the global green hydrogen table now, it will propel its economy, drive industrialisation and economic development, stimulate employment and create a regional green hydrogen hub,” says Rajend Govender.