Hive Hydrogen Says Topsoe to Supply Electrolyzer for South Africa
(Bloomberg) -- Hive Hydrogen South Africa said it’s selected Topsoe A/S to supply it with about $1 billion in equipment for its green ammonia project in the country’s Eastern Cape province.
The Danish company will provide Hive Hydrogen, a joint venture between the UK’s Hive Energy Ltd. and South Africa’s BuiltAfrica Group, with electrolyzer and ammonia synthesizing equipment, Hive said in a statement. The project, scheduled to start up in 2030 and to produce a million tons of green ammonia a year, is expected to cost more than $5 billion.
South Africa, with ample solar and wind power potential, is vying with competitors including neighboring Namibia to become a leading producer of green hydrogen, which is being touted as a way to decarbonize heavy industry and shipping. It’s generated by using renewable energy to split water molecules, yielding hydrogen, which is then synthesized into a clean-energy source. Hive’s project at the port of Coega is the most advanced of major investment plans using the technology in the country.
The efficiency of the equipment “means we can reduce capital expenditure on renewables by over €0.5 billion ($583 million),” Giles Redpath, Hive Energy’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.
Still, critics are skeptical about whether production costs can fall sufficiently for green hydrogen to viably compete with conventional, carbon-intensive fuels like diesel.
The plan is to install an 850-megawatt electrolyzer using Topsoe’s Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell technology. Hive expects to produce green ammonia at a sales price at its export port of $650 a ton. It has previously said the plant is intended to serve export markets such as Japan and South Korea.
Hive said it’s seeking additional investors and lenders for the project.
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