Key points
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Prieska green hydrogen project will produce 80,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually.
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Prieska green hydrogen project pairs a 120 MW electrolyser with solar, wind and 45 MW battery.
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IDC and KfW funding aims to create 400 jobs and boost local industry.
South Africa’s state-owned Industrial Development Corporation and Germany’s KfW development bank are backing the Prieska Power Reserve Project, a large green-hydrogen and green-ammonia development outside Prieska in the Northern Cape.
The project is led by Mahlako, a women-owned empowerment consortium, and Cenec, a renewables developer based in Bloemfontein.
Together they plan to produce 80,000 tonnes of green ammonia a year. The processing plant will sit in Prieska’s industrial area on municipal land. Renewable generation will sit on about 1,900 hectares of nearby private farmland.
Prieska green hydrogen project design
Planned capacity centers on a 120-megawatt electrolyser. It will draw power from 180 megawatts-peak of solar PV and 136 megawatts-peak of wind.
A 45-megawatt battery will smooth output and allow 24-hour electrolyser operation. That setup is expected to yield about 14,500 tonnes of green hydrogen a year, which will be converted to green ammonia on site.
Lotus and other industry groups say such integrated designs help close the gap between intermittent renewables and steady industrial demand.
The IDC says the project will support local and national socio-economic goals and create roughly 400 jobs at commercial stage.
Prieska project and South Africa’s metal advantage
The project highlights South Africa’s potential role in the green-hydrogen value chain. Proton exchange membrane, or PEM, electrolysers and fuel cells use platinum group metals as catalysts.
South Africa hosts most of the world’s PGMs, which could give local manufacturers an edge if the market adopts PEM technology.
However, the IDC’s public notice does not specify which electrolyser technology the project will use. International firms such as Ohmium and Plug Power have championed PEM systems.
Meanwhile, technologies like liquid organic hydrogen carriers are being developed to ease storage and transport of hydrogen using existing fuel infrastructure.
Local impact and wider green-hydrogen push
Project backers say Prieska could anchor a regional industrial cluster. Officials point to downstream uses: green chemicals, sustainable fuels, and hard-to-abate industrial processes like steel and cement. The IDC highlights job creation, skills transfer and local supply opportunities.
Prieska sits alongside other South African green-hydrogen efforts, including the Hive green-ammonia project at Nelson Mandela Bay and Keren Energy’s Western Cape development.
In the Eastern Cape, a separate FEED process is under way for a seawater-based electrolyser project at the East London Industrial Development Zone.
The next steps for Prieska include detailed engineering, permitting and commercial close. Project leaders expect to dispatch qualification samples and firm up offtake and logistics arrangements ahead of first exports.
As the green-hydrogen market matures, Prieska aims to move from concept to delivery and to help position South Africa as a player in the low-carbon fuel market.
