South Africa, a country well-endowed with mineral resources, is positioning itself to become a global leader in green hydrogen production, as a way out of the pressing energy crunch and part of a push for sustainable growth.

The green hydrogen economy is being billed as the most exciting development since South Africa's mineral revolution over a century ago.

The country's hydrogen future was put under the spotlight at a summit last week in Johannesburg which gathered mining companies and other stakeholders for green trailblazing considerations.

"What I think the hydrogen opportunity presents now is an ability for us to re-industrialize around this fuel source, this pending fuel source. It is something that is coming down the line that is going to assist us with our energy transition from very heavy reliance on fossil fuels to something exponentially cleaner that doesn't emit carbon. So helping us to do our part in cleaning up the climate issue," said Mike Peo, head of infrastructure, energy, and telecommunications of Nedbank.

South Africa's abundance of platinum group metal reserves along with natural resources positions it to capitalize on a global surge for green hydrogen in the next few decades.

"There are going to be so many small industries that will be associated with building new plants, developing aviation fuels, developing bunkering fuels, among other options. We're going to see the ability to create hubs where manufacturing will start to take place, create jobs, and as a consequence, hopefully significantly improve the economic woes of this country," said Peo.

Progress has been made in enabling policies for sustainable industry development.

A hydrogen valley stretching over 800 kilometers from the north of the country to the east coast is being mapped out. The corridor alone could create over 14,000 jobs and add approximately eight billion dollars to the GDP.

"One of the key projects that I would like to highlight is Project Rhinebell, which is the hydrogen freight corridor that is focused on developing fuel cells for logistic trucks and buses. Right now, the project has been shortlisted for German KFW grant funding. In addition to that, we have recently submitted a business plan proposal to the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa) to consider developmental funding," said Fahmida Smith, market development principal of Anglo American Platinum, one of the world's largest mining companies.

Green hydrogen enables the country to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and a centralized electricity grid which is struggling to keep up with demand.

"It gives you the ability to construct what's referred to as micro-embedded grids, where it's almost like little localized grids, you know, so that you can be not as dependent on this massive infrastructure coming through, big lines that you see along the roads you're traveling. So you can, in a localized area, have your own grid and manage it there," said Fergus Feltman, Founder and CEO of Atlanthia (Pty) Ltd, a local company specializing in technologies that convert hydrogen into electricity.

It's still early days, however. Hydrogen production costs are high and require huge capital investments. South Africa said it need 1.5 trillion rand (some 84 billion U.S. dollars) over the next five years to fund its green energy transition.