AfrElec: Sasol to sharpen focus on green hydrogen export plans as Europe looks for green energy

South Africa’s Sasol is quickening the pace of its green hydrogen export plans in response to Europe’s anxious search for new energy sources as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sasol is to place greater focus on producing green hydrogen on South Africa’s north-west coast and is carrying out a feasibility study that it expects to complete in two years, Sasol CEO Fleetwood Grobler said, Bloomberg said in a report.

“The impetus for renewables like hydrogen has gone up a couple of notches in the last two months,” Grobler said in an interview. “What in my mind changes is that we should move quicker and faster on our hydrogen plays.”

In October 2021, Sasol signed a memorandum of agreement with the Northern Cape Economic Development, Trade and Promotion Agency to lead the feasibility study to explore the potential of Boegoebaai as an export hub for green hydrogen and ammonia.

In September, Sasol declared in a statement that its updated strategy commits it to be at net-zero emissions by 2050. This, it said, is in line with Sasol’s commitment to accelerate its transition to a low-carbon world in support of the objectives of the Paris Agreement.