South Africa receives R628m grant from EU to boost Green Hydrogen agenda

Ramokgopa

Cape Town — Minister of Electricity, Kgotsientsho Ramokgopa, announced that the European Union (EU) has given South Africa two grants valued at R628 million (€32 million) to boost the country’s hydrogen agenda.

In a statement, Ramokgopa, along with European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson and Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, revealed that the grant will go towards improving South Africa’s green hydrogen infrastructure and will also support the country’s sustainability goals.

The first grant is R490 million (€25 million) and is expected to leverage the R10 billion in private and public sector funding, which will cover production, transportation, storage and downstream industries.

The second grant of R2138 million (€7 million) will assist Transnet in its turn-around strategy and will cover additional funding for green transformation, including ports, rail, pipeline and engineering facilities.

The partnership will focus on efforts to build more renewable energy infrastructure, improve energy efficiency, and promote sustainability.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Minister Ramokgopa explained that the grant would not help with the country’s current challenges of load shedding.

“The grant will not help us in the electricity deficit in the country, but it is most certainly going to help us in the future because we are going to ensure we don’t have the return of load shedding,” he said.

He said South Africa has very strong green hydrogen technology, which will help the country to decarbonise electricity generation in the country, and bolster the economy.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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