Load-shedding is a major problem for South African businesses, with telecommunications companies, manufacturing industries, and corporate enterprise suffering whenever Eskom decides to turn off the power.

Businesses with high power requirements such as data centres are especially vulnerable, and the diesel generators used to keep these powered under load-shedding have extremely high operating costs.

This makes them prohibitively expensive to run for an extended period of time, which means that regular load-shedding could financially cripple many businesses.

There may be a solution to this sustainable backup power problem, however, thanks to the efforts of energy companies like GenCell.

GenCell develops hydrogen power cells as a cost-effective replacement for diesel backup and off-grid power delivery, and this technology could have a big impact in South Africa.

MyBroadband spoke to GenCell CEO Rami Reshef about the company’s fuel cell technology and how it could be implemented locally.

Developing hydrogen fuel cells
“We did not invent the hydrogen fuel cell. They were first invented in 1839 by William Grove, and their first commercial use was in the US and Russian space programmes to provide power on board spacecraft,” Reshef said.

GenCell’s fuel cells require hydrogen and oxygen to create chemical reactions and generate energy, with the byproduct of this reaction being water.

“When we founded in 2011, we identified two main barriers – the capital expenditure for the cost of a platinum catalyst and the operating expenditure for the high cost of the hydrogen,” Reshef said.

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“If we could overcome these two barriers, we had a fair chance to present a fuel cell technology which could become mainstream.”

The company developed a non-platinum catalyst in 2011, dramatically reducing the capital expenditure required, and it had also implemented CO2 scrubbers to use oxygen from the surrounding air.

Crucially, GenCell also developed a way to use ammonia for the hydrogen component of its reaction, dramatically reducing the cost to operate these fuel cells.

“The cost of ammonia is half or even one third as the equivalent weight of diesel,” Reshef said.
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Platinum group metals producer Impala Platinum (Implats) has, through the installation of an 8 MW Doosan fuel cell plant, moved one step closer to taking its refinery, near Johannesburg, off-grid.
The first phase of the project comprises 20 Doosan fuel cells, which uses combined heat and power to capture energy. It will be operational by mid-year, with the long-term goal to generate between 22 MW and 30 MW of power.
“Doosan is excited to be a part of the clean energy evolution in South Africa with its PureCell Model 400 combined heat and power solution,” said Doosan international sales VP Eric Strayer.
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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa is in a global race in fuel cell development and should not consider itself “special”, as there are a number of other countries that could reap benefits from their fuel cell plans far sooner, an analyst warned on Friday.
Speaking during a panel discussion on the impact of fuel cell technologies on the South African economy, hosted by local platinum miner Impala Platinum (Implats), storage strategy, consulting and data house 4th Energy Wave fuel cell analyst Kerry-Ann Adamson pointed out that the local industry should not be lulled into a false sense of security because the country has the biggest source of platinum.

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The large scale application of hydrogen fuel cells can ultimately replace combustion type power generation, reduce greenhouse gasses, and provide South Africa with sustainable energy supply.
The first step of this vision was taken when Impala Refining Services launched a prototype hydrogen fuel cell forklift and refuelling station. The prototype is a collaborative effort between the Department of Science and Technology through the HySA Systems Centre of Competence based at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Impala Platinum (Implats) through its Impala Refineries in Springs.
Over the past three years, Implats has provided HySA Systems with R6-million to enable the prototype development. Implats plans to use hydrogen fuel cell technology as its main source of energy for material handling and underground mining equipment.

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Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor on Thursday unveiled South Africa's first prototype hydrogen fuel cell forklift and a refuelling station at Impala Refining Services in Springs, near Johannesburg.

The development is set to boost South Africa's hydrogen fuel cell industry.

The prototype is a collaborative effort between the Department of Science and Technology through the HySA Systems Centre of Competence based at the University of the Western Cape and Impala Platinum (Implats) through its Impala Refineries in Springs.

Over the past three years, Implats has provided HySA Systems with funds of R6 million to enable the prototype development. Implats plans to use hydrogen fuel cell technology as its main source of energy for material handling and underground mining equipment.

Speaking at the event, Minister Pandor said fuel cell technologies had the potential to provide access to affordable, safe, clean and reliable energy, which is necessary for broad-based economic development and growth in the country.

"While the fuel cell market is still in its infancy in South Africa, recent developments indicate a growing appetite for the technology," Minister Pandor said.

She said South Africa had started to make a number of bold moves that could see it leapfrog into being one of the leading countries in hydrogen fuel cell technology installations in the short to medium term.

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The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is working with other government departments to plan the roll-out of hydrogen fuel cell technology in agricultural parks in South Africa, as well as in schools and clinics. Print Send to Friend 1 0 DST director-general Phil Mjwara told the Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) technical meeting in Cape Town on Tuesday that, within the next two or three years, HySA technology could be rolled out to about 20 agriparks in the country.
Some 27 priority districts across the country have been earmarked for agricultural parks in a bid to boost agriculture, create jobs and transform the rural economy. R2-billion has been set aside for the establishment of the parks. Mjwara said the DST was also in discussions with the departments of Basic Education, Health and Energy about using fuel cells as standby power in schools and clinics across the country. The technology is being used in a pilot project in three schools in the deep rural area of Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape. Fuel cells are being used to support basic energy requirements for charging stations for computers, fax machines and tablets. Mjwara was upbeat about introducing fuel cell technology in special economic zones in the country, which would be boosted by incentives and tax breaks. He said the country’s energy challenges provided an opportunity to look differently at the prospect of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

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In South Africa, a subsidiary of British multinational telecommunications company, Vodafone South Africa, is planning to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cell base stations to reduce the amount of problems caused by the country’s frequent power outages and to reduce the amount of fuel theft incidents.

The Register UK reported that Vodafone supports remote mobile sites by installing on-site generation and microwave backhaul. The sites can be specific to 2G, 3G, 4G or use a variety of technologies.

Many remote locations do not have access to the national electricity grid, which means that diesel generators are needed for power. However, Vodafone has intentions to reduce the need for diesel as it is a dirty fuel source as well as the machinery being considerably noisy.

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