In April 2016, I listened to then Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor say that the South African government was working on a fuel cell and hydrogen roadmap. She was speaking at the launch of a hydrogen refuelling station at Impala Platinum in Springs.
“It’s about an economic development that all of us would want to see,” she said. But it takes an age to get things going. Only last week did the Department of Science and Innovation announce that it had initiated a process, with other government and industry stakeholders, to develop a roadmap that will lead South Africa towards a hydrogen society.
Other countries, in less advantageous positions than South Africa, already have clear plans. In fact, Japan had a hydrogen roadmap at the time of Pandor’s speech, more than four years ago. The South Korean government is planning to build at least two ‘hydrogen cities’. The Hydrogen Council says hydrogen will be cost competitive far sooner than previously thought.
We need a hydrogen roadmap, and we need it fast, because there is no other country in the world that is better positioned than South Africa to take part in what is best described as a global hydrogen revolution.