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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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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“The generator produces electricity in an environmentally friendly way, without pollution or noise,” said Piotr Bujlo, leader of the generator project and a technology specialist at HySA Systems.

Fuel cells are already used to power vehicles and provide power in remote or inaccessible places, including on space capsules and satellites.

Researchers at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hope that their work on hydrogen fuel cell innovations may help with the global quest to cut reliance on fossil fuels, as well as helping with South Africa’s own attempts to give more of its population access to electricity.

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The work of the newly launched Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Infrastructure facilities located at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in Pretoria, would promote South Africa’s hydrogen economy, as well as the beneficiation of platinum-group metals (PGMs), CSIR CEO Dr Sibusiso Sibisisaid on Thursday.
The facility would be jointly used by HySA Infrastructure and the CSIR’s batteries research group to conduct research aimed at developing novel materials to meet challenging hydrogen and energystorage requirements.
“There are boundless opportunities for hydrogen as a fuel inenvironmental management and mineral resource beneficiation in South Africa through fuel cell deployment and advanced manufacturing,” HySAInfrastructure director Dr Dmitri Bessarabov said at the lauch of the facility.

He explained that fuel cells using PGM catalysts, used hydrogen as a fuel, resulting in little or no polluting emissions as chemical energy was converted into electrical energy.

However, the challenge was to develop the infrastructure to produce, store and make hydrogen available for these applications in addition to getting cheaper replacement catalysts.

Bessarabov told Engineering News Online that the facility located at the CSIR would conduct its research in collaboration with the other HySA Infrastructure research centre located at the North West University (NWU).

He explained that HySA Infastructure had two key programmes designated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) namely KP4 and KP5.

KP4 related to hydrogen storage and would be carried out at the CSIR-based facility, while KP5, which was being carried out at the NWU, pertained to hydrogen production.

He said the newly opended facility was, therefore, dedicated to benchmarking research in terms of hydrogen storage materials.

This process had already started with some outputs having been received.

Going forward, the facility would also aim to develop new materials for hydrogen storage, while also investigating ways in which storage materials could be adapted for commercial applications.

To achieve this, the HySA Infrastructure facility at the CSIR included laboratories dedicated to materials synthesis, equipped with specialised fume-hoods, and materials characterisation, equipped with an inert atmosphere glovebox with a built-in vacuum oven, a surface area and a porosity analyser with a cryostat and a pycnometer.

The facility also included a performance testing laboratory with a pressure-composition-temperature gas analyser, an in-house designed and built Sieverts-type apparatus and a centrifugal granulator.

The laboratories would also be further equipped with additional state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation in due course.

Further, the facility would also, through the CSIR batteries group, focus on the development of lithium-ion batteries for stationary and mobile applications.

Speaking at the launch, CSIR energy materials manager Dr Mkhulu Mathe noted that the key mission of the battery programme was to enable the local manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries through the development of a pilot-scale battery cell manufacturing operation based on South African materials.

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“Carbon Busters” designed a low cost solution that is available to low income earning consumers of energy and takes the purchaser totally off grid. This energy generation method is also available for isolated communities and current rural development projects. Once the initial layout costs for the system has been done it generates the energy supply with minor low cost maintenance to keep system running indefinitely.

The installed system can be easily and rapidly expanded to facilitate greater energy demand without any disruption in the supply.

The “Carbon Buster” system is described in three phases. The first phase is supplying the energy to the fuel cells to split the Hydrogen and Oxygen.

The second phase is to fill the Hydrogen Storage Vessels with 99% Hydrogen and the third phase is to supply the 99% pure hydrogen to the energy utilisation mediums to cook heat or supply electricity for lighting. (Pure hydrogen can also be used with LPG type Gas Lighting platforms.)

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Will hydrogen power our future vehicles? New technology developed in Japan could be the milestone needed to promote hydrogen's use as a fuel for our future vehicles.Japan's biggest petroleum wholesaler, JX Holdings, says it has created new technologies and methods to transport hydrogen safely in liquid form. Currently transporting and storing hydrogen in gas form requires expensive investment for special carbon fibre trailers that keep the gas at the right pressure to prevent explosions.

This cost has scuppered efforts to use the eco-friendly resource in fuel-cell vehicles.

However, new methods to transport large volumes of hydrogen safely through liquid have been created. JX Holdings says that by transporting hydrogen in liquid form by dissolving it in toluene, a component of crude oil, the need to purchase special containers vanishes. In liquid form, the energy resource can be transported at regular temperatures and pressure. Once it arrives at its destination, the gas can be re-vaporised at the pump.

The new method cuts hydrogen cost by over a third, which could make fuel-cell vehicles commercially viable. Some automakers, such as Honda and Toyota, plan to begin manufacturing these types of vehicles next year.

In terms of distance travelled using hydrogen versus gas, hydrogen is double the price. However, as it emits no greenhouse gases, the use of hydrogen and oxygen in fuel-cell vehicles is one of the better solutions on the table to keep our cars running, especially as fossil fuels begin to run out.

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H2 SA 2014 – Hydrogen Power Summit – Harnessing, Commercializing and Growing Hydrogen power in South Africa
Start: February 24, 2014 8:00 am
End: February 25, 2014 5:00 pm
Category: Energy
Organizer: Aminergy
Phone: +27-12-661-0515
Email: marketing@aminergy.net
Venue: Protea Balalaika Hotel
Address: Google Map. 20 Rivonia Road, Sandton, Gauteng South Africa

Cost: R8995.00 per delegate

Hydrogen (H2) is a potentially emissions-free alternative fuel, it is also the simplest and most abundant element in the universe. At Earth-surface temperatures and pressures, it is a colorless, odorless gas (H2), however, hydrogen is rarely found alone in nature. It is usually bonded with other elements such as water (H2O), hydrocarbons (such as methane, CH4), and other organic matter. Efficiently producing hydrogen from these compounds is one of the challenges of using hydrogen as a fuel.

Energy security is a challenge that we all face whether this is due to a lack of resources or a dependence on global markets or more recently the prospect of dwindling resources. Hydrogen offers a solution to this in that it can be produced domestically from resources like natural gas, coal, solar energy, wind, and biomass.

Challenges that currently exist include storage, transportation and the cost of production. South Africa holds a major advantage in this space in that Platinum and the PGMs are the key catalytic materials used in the production of most fuel cells. South Africa holds more the 75% of the world’s known PGM reserves and the benefits of this go beyond just the ability to fill the role of major supplier to worlds platinum needs. In the South Africa much debate and many attempts have and continue around the beneficiation in the mining industry and the growth in the hydrogen and fuel cell markets creates exactly that kind of opportunity for the South African platinum mining industry.

H2 SA 2014 will explore where Hydrogen power is headed over the next 2 decades in so far as current markets and future markets are concerned. The summit will highlight current and new production technologies, the costs of these technologies and what the cost drivers are. During the proceedings of the summit delegates will be taken through a complete SWOT analysis on the hydrogen power and fuel cells market highlighting how users and suppliers can best position themselves to take advantage of the benefits of this abundant and natural energy source.

Attendees to the H2 SA 2014 Summit will discuss, learn about and exchange ideas around the following critical issues:- 
Global and local policies around alternative energy sources and hydrogen.
Local and international initiatives in the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell market
Markets opportunities, identifying and positioning
Drivers for developing the hydrogen market in South Africa
Current and new Hydrogen production technologies
The current hydrogen automotive market and initiatives to drive the transport sector forward
A global and local perspective on the current Carbon emissions and government policy status
Solar power and Hydrogen
Biomass and Hydrogen
Hydrogen as a backup power source

Who should attend:-
C-level Management
Technical Directors
Heads of Strategy, Marketing, Sales and Business Development
Heads of Energy and Planning
Legal advisors
Corporate Finance Advisors
Heads of Engineering
Power Project Professionals
Renewable and Alternative Energy Advisors

Our Esteemed Panel of speakers includes:-
Dr. David Hart, Director @ E4tech
John Butt, CEO @ Conduit Ventures Ltd
Gavin Coetzer, CEO and Business Development Exec @ Clean Energy Investments
Dr Dmitri Bessarabov, Director: DST HySA Infrastructure Center of Competence
Paolo Bert, CEO @ ACTA Spa
Dr Cosmas Chiteme, Director: Hydrogen and Energy @ Department of Science and Technology
Karim Kassam, Vice President, Business & Corporate Development @ Ballard Power Systems Inc
Taras Wankewyc, Co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer @ Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte Ltd
Professor John Jostins, CEO of Microcab Industries Ltd
Prof Bruno Pollet, UWC Professor of Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Technologies, SAIAMC Programme Director, DST HySA Systems Competence Centre Director
David Farese, Lead Engineer – Complex Projects @ Air Products and Chemicals
Gary Clarke, President and CEO @ Hy9
Jerome Gosset, President @ Helion
Dr John Turner, Research Fellow @ NREL
Joe Cargnelli, CTO @ Hydrogenics