Sasol Climate Change Report 2023 - Book - Page 34
INTRODUCTION
TRANSFORMING FOR RESILIENCE
GOVERNANCE
CLIMATE ADVOCACY AND POLICY
DATA AND ASSURANCE
ENERGY BUSINESS CONTINUED
SASOLBURG
We are working to decarbonise and repurpose Sasolburg’s grey
assets to produce green hydrogen and derivatives. This entails
producing first-to-market green hydrogen at scale to stimulate local
demand and catalyse local industry value chains (including fuel cells).
We have three project groups making up this initiative:
• pilots and demonstrations;
• green hydrogen mobility; and
• transitioning the Sasolburg natural gas value chain to sustainable
feedstocks.
The Sasolburg green hydrogen pilot project is the most advanced
component within the programme. It includes the conversion of an
existing chlor-alkali electrolyser, powered by greenfields renewable
energy, to produce 3 – 6 tpd green hydrogen (see below).
SASOLBURG GREEN HYDROGEN PILOT PROJECT
In June 2023, the Sasolburg green hydrogen pilot project took a key
first step towards becoming the largest commercial-scale producer
of green hydrogen in South Africa.
Two years earlier, we announced our intention to produce green
hydrogen within 24 months, using our existing 60MW chlor-alkali
electrolyser units in Sasolburg. A final investment decision (FID) was
taken in March 2022 with the IDC contributing funding. However,
plans to install 20MW of solar power at our Sasolburg and Secunda
sites encountered difficulties, prompting our Renewable Energy team
to negotiate, and conclude, the Msenge Emoyeni wind project PPA
(see previous page).
To meet our promise to produce green hydrogen by the end of 2023,
the team designed and implemented the on-site ~3MW Sasolburg
Midlands solar PV project. This allowed the project to begin initial
production of green hydrogen in June 2023, for on-site use.
Additional technical work will be completed by November 2023,
which will allow us to provide green hydrogen to the South African
market. The aim is for production to be scaled using renewable energy
from the Msenge Emoyeni project, once operational.
Construction of the ~3MW Midlands solar PV plant, Sasolburg, South Africa
Boegoebaai, Northern Cape
SECUNDA SAF-HyShiFT
GREEN HYDROGEN EXPORT – BOEGOEBAAI
This project, which is in the feasibility phase, envisages the introduction of
incremental green hydrogen, renewable energy and eligible sustainable carbon
sources into Secunda to demonstrate its ability to produce SAF, and in the long
term, sustainable chemicals.
The Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen Hub is part of
South Africa’s national Green Hydrogen
Programme to produce low-cost green hydrogen
for the export market. Situated in the Northern
Cape, the opportunity is well located for accessing
export markets through a new deepwater port (to
be developed by private-sector partners under a
process initiated by Transnet in 2022) to serve
green hydrogen and mining industries.
The first phase of the Secunda SAF-HyShiFT project includes procuring ~450MW
of renewables and ~200MW electrolyser capacity.
The project is being developed as a consortium made up of Sasol Energy, Enertrag
(renewables) and Linde (green hydrogen), with potential partners, the IDC and
HydRegen involved in ongoing discussions. In 2022, Linde received €15 million of
public funding from the German Government (the federal Ministry for Economic
Affairs and Climate Action – BMWK) to support the engineering of green hydrogen
production.
BMWK is also funding one of the most innovative programmes supporting the
ramp-up of Germany’s green hydrogen economy – the so-called H2Global auction.
H2Global is a competition-based instrument promoting timely and effective
ramp-up of an industrial-scale Power-to-X (PtX) market in Germany.
The instrument is based on a mechanism that is analogous to the contracts-fordifference approach. Under the H2Global auction, the shortfall between supply
prices (production and transport) and demand prices, is compensated by a grant,
subsidy or incentive from a public or philanthropic funding body, in this case, the
federal German government. The first SAF tender phase for H2Global commenced
in December 2022.
SASOL CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT 2023
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In 2021, Sasol signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Northern Cape
provincial government to lead a pre-feasibility
study exploring the potential for the region to
serve as an export hub for green hydrogen
derivatives. It is expected that should the project
proceed, Boegoebaai exports will initially be
focused on green ammonia. Today green ammonia
has a rapidly expanding global market as a wide
range of value chains need to move away from
the grey equivalent. The pre-feasibility study has
progressed and Sasol is supporting the Northern
Cape Government’s master plan to develop the
region as a green hydrogen industrial cluster. The
master plan is expected to be published in quarter
four of 2023.
