South African-based global energy and chemicals company Sasol and steel company ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMCO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate on green energy development and the decarbonisation of the manufacturing industry during the African Energy Week in Cape Town.
Signed by Priscillah Mabelane, Executive Vice President at Sasol and Aldridge Louis, General Manager, AMCO, the MoU will pave the way for the two to partner on a green hydrogen feasibility study and pilot projects.
The MoU, signed in the presence of Mines and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape Province and Andre Truter, Executive Mayor of Saldanha Bay, will enable Sasol and AMCO to also cooperate on green hydrogen knowledge sharing and on skills and workforce development.
Commenting on the partnership, Mabelane said “Sasol aims to lead the energy transition in Africa and we intend to play a key role in maximizing hydrogen opportunities. We will revitalize different sectors to stimulate technology development while ensuring global competitiveness of various regions and sectors. We will work with various government entities and the private sector to ensure sustainability and the partnership with AMCO is a crucial enablement of a green hydrogen economy in South Africa. With the partnership, we will put Southern Africa ahead of the global energy transition by repurposing our business to produce hydrogen at scale.”
Mabelane, added that Sasol will “Partner with AMSA at Saldanha Industrial Development to repurpose the facility. With the collaboration, we will ensure South Africa regains its global competitiveness by incrementing the production of steel and green hydrogen. We will capture carbon from AMSA operations and transport it via a pipeline to power our operations and in the process decarbonize.”
Louis added that “What we are witnessing today is two of South Africa’s biggest industry players agreeing to work together on decarbonisation to ensure South Africa’s 2050 net-zero target is met. Steel has a huge role to play in the decarbonisation of South Africa’s energy and industry sectors. Steel as a recyclable material is very critical in decarbonizing the economy and transforming the way we produce steel through green hydrogen, renewables and carbon capture technology application is what we will be assessing. Sasol will develop green hydrogen and AMSA will leverage the energy to decarbonize. We acknowledge the success of the projects will be a result of increased partnership between government and the private sector”.
The AEW conference and exhibition, attended by Africa’s oil and gas sector leaders, h runs from October 18 – 21 in Cape Town.
