- SFC Energy AG, a leading provider of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells for stationary, portable and mobile hybrid power solutions, is participating in an international research project to test an off-grid solution with green hydrogen in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As part of the GH2GH project – green hydrogen for decentralised energy systems in Sub-Saharan Africa – a pilot installation for the production, storage and on-demand reconversion of green hydrogen for the completely off-grid energy supply of the Don Bosco Solar & Renewable Energy Centre in Tema, Ghana, was implemented together with the project partners Bochum University of Applied Sciences and Green Power Brains.
The Don Bosco Campus is particularly important as a cross-regional pilot and training centre. Teaching includes theoretical and practical knowledge about mini-grids with photovoltaics and, in the future, also with green hydrogen. This will open up new opportunities for young people across Sub-Saharan Africa and create the local conditions for this large market.
The project partners are relying on intelligent control to operate an intelligent and fully self-sufficient mini-grid based on forecasts, with comparatively low installed power, long runtimes, a large hydrogen storage unit and in symbiosis with existing battery storage units. Excess electricity generated by photovoltaic during the day is used to produce green hydrogen and is stored in batteries. At night, the mini-grid is supplied from the batteries and the hydrogen is also converted back into electricity when rainy days are forecasted.
A 20 kW electrolysis system and an energy solution from SFC with four EFOY Hydrogen 2.5 fuel cells and a total output of 10 kW were installed for the green hydrogen cycle. With an electrical storage capacity of around 600 kWh in the form of hydrogen, the previous storage capacity of the battery has been more than doubled. At the same time, storing hydrogen in steel cylinders is economically and environmentally advantageous and easy to scale up and to expand.
This will increase the economic efficiency and potential to supply more people in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa with renewable energy in a resource-efficient, reliable and self-sufficient manner. Dr Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy AG: “Power generation from locally produced green hydrogen for decentralised green energy supply is an important building block in the global energy transition. This project shows how sustainable and powerful our technology is in these applications. And most importantly, it shows that our fuel cells can reliably deliver clean power even in the environmental conditions of Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
