Packaging South Africa’s sunshine for export
German firm plans to farm energy and ship it back to Europe via E Cape ports in the form of hydrogen and ammonia
At last week’s provincial Economic Recovery Plan conference premier Oscar Mabuyane announced that 11 companies were committed to investing a combined R46.5 bn into EC.
One of those investors is Sunfarming, said Gustav Radloff, the CEO of the company's SA branch and an electrical engineer based at their office in Potchefstroom.
Sunfarming is a multi-award winning German company that operates in 16 countries, including SA. “Next year we are building an agri-photovoltaic demonstration plant in Komani, at a cost of R12m.
“The plant is different from normal photovoltaic — electricity from sunshine — PV panel installations — panels are raised high above ground, and designed to let light through, so people can farm under them.”
He said the concept is relatively new, having been perfected by Sunfarming over eight years, but it has revolutionised photovoltaic use on farms. “Because normal panels have a lifespan of up to 40 years,
the ground underneath them becomes like a desert, because no light penetrates. With Agriphotovoltaic (PV) panels farmers can rent out their land, and carry on producing.”
He said Sunfarming’s installations created many jobs, but they only lasted during construction. However, added value for Komani residents is a training programme targeting small-scale entrepreneur farmers, or new farmers.
“We will train people as panel fitters, with opportunities to work for a company or start on their own. We will employ the best fitters from the programme and use them for future jobs in the Eastern Cape, both maintenance and new ventures.”
He said establishing new farms was a costly exercise.
“A farm is capital-draining, with construction, fencing, cables, steel for higher mounting, as well as the farming aspect — cold storage, roads, irrigation and so on. The result is the price energy must be sold at is much higher than the going rate.”
The solution, he says, is for Sunfarming to buy power from itself. “We are exploring farms in high-sunshine areas like Middelburg, Lady Frere and Komani, which have Eskom cables through to the coastal ports of Gqeberha or East London.
“We’ll send electricity to the coast, put it through an electrolyser to make hydrogen, and convert it to ammonia, which is easier to ship overseas.
“When it arrives we put it through a cracker and turn it back to hydrogen.”
Essentially, Sunfarming will be selling SA’S sunshine overseas, in the form of green hydrogen and green ammonia.
Exporting ammonia is similar to exporting crude oil.
Hydrogen, which has tiny molecules, tends to leak. Both are dangerous, so care is necessary, as with oil or petrol.
It is more expensive to run a car on hydrogen than petrol, but penalties for using dirty fuel will change that. Hydrogen is so clean that the exhaust vapour from a hydrogen-fuelled car is fit for drinking.
Ammonia is in high demand for fertiliser and explosives, so export demand is a given.
“The project is in the bankable feasibility stage. Success depends on the capacity of Eskom’s power lines.
“If Eskom can handle the load, by 2024 the development phase should be complete, so building will start in 2025 or 2026 and the first product should be on the water by 2028.”
Sunfarming will negotiate with the municipality in Komani, Enoch Mgijima, to use vacant land for farming, and then in exchange create the agri-pv venture. The venture will not only assist small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs, but put a dent in unemployment.
Mabuyane said last week that many rural municipalities benefiting from investment in their areas “didn’t have a clue”.
“Businesses have brought in billions but I doubt if the municipalities are aware of it.”
Ken Clark, founder of The Independents political party in Komani, said the project “sounds wonderful — if it achieves what it intends. We need a due diligence report.
“It would be tragic to see this sink into another scandal instead of creating jobs.”