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 The modest two-storey structure hosts office space and utility rooms
for the six staff who care for the plants and animals living in the
30-hectare reserve.
But the building is a major milestone in South Africa's struggle to
ease its dependence on fossil fuels. It runs on hydrogen, an
infinitely renewable fuel that, when used to generate power,
produces no emissions apart from water and heat.
The building's electricity is supplied by a prototype hydrogen fuel
cell (HFC) power generator that was launched in November by the
university's Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Systems Centre of
Competence.
Developed in collaboration with local heating-technology company Hot
Platinum, the generator is a testament to South Africa's advances in
hydrogen fuel cell technology.
In a country struggling with blackouts, energy shortages, high
tariffs and years of under-investment in power infrastructure, it
offers the hope that hydrogen could be an answer to South Africa's
search for reliable alternative energy sources.
NO EMISSIONS, NO NOISE
"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.
According to HySA Systems, its new generator can be used anywhere
where a maximum 2.5 kilowatts of electricity is required. It has an
advantage over nuclear power or coal power in that hydrogen can be
produced on-site – using a water electrolyser – which means there is
no need to pipe or truck the fuel in from somewhere else.
“The generator is highly competitive in places where there is no
grid,” Bujlo said.
Hydrogen fuel cells take the energy produced by a chemical reaction
in the presence of a catalyst – such as platinum – and convert it
into useable electrical power, with only water vapor and heat as
by-products.
As energy-storage devices, they work much like batteries except that
while batteries store all of their chemicals inside, and eventually
go dead, fuel cells have a constant flow of chemicals.
ABUNDANT POWER
"Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in the universe, so with HFC
systems the energy is inexhaustible,” said Bruno Pollet, director of
HySA Systems.
The generator systems used in the HySA project are almost entirely
South African designed and produced, apart from the fuel cells.
Pollet says the next generation of HySA technologies will be 100
percent locally developed.
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HySA Systems and Hot Platinum are currently installing and testing a
new version of the fuel-cell system for domestic use, with hope of
having it ready to demonstrate in 2015.
The generator is one of the many innovations that have been
developed under South Africa’s National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell
Technologies Research, Development and Innovation Strategy launched
in 2007, a program aimed at exploring the feasibility of using fuel
cell technology for decentralizing energy.
Cosmas Chiteme, director of alternative energy at the government's
Department of Science and Technology (DST), said the government is
investing in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies with the hopes of
building on South Africa's reputation in the field.
"The intention is to create the critical knowledge and human
resources capacity to enable the development of high-value
commercial activities," he said.
PRIVATE SECTOR INTEREST
The DST has so far invested $40 million (450 million rand) in its
hydrogen-energy strategy. Using $17 million (194 million rand) to
date, the University of the Western Cape’s HySA project has so far
produced a range of innovations, including South Africa's first
hydrogen-powered tricycle, scooter, and golf cart, along with the
country's first fuel-cell component manufacturing line.
The private sector has been paying attention. In September, HySA
Systems joined a project with European airline manufacturer Airbus
and the National Aerospace Centre to work on understanding how
hydrogen fuel cells might perform when subjected to the harsh and
varying environmental conditions in which commercial aircraft
operate.
But, according to HySA Systems director Pollet, before hydrogen
energy can become more widely available, decision makers need to be
persuaded of its benefits.
"Hydrogen fuel cells could be commercially available in South Africa
as soon as the local industry, government departments and other
stakeholders see the benefits of the technology: low cost, high
efficiency, clean performance,” he said.
But first, “I think they need to be educated about the technology."
(Reporting by Munyaradzi Makoni; editing by Laurie Goering)
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