An efficient, low-carbon trial project lit up a rural community after residents spent five years off the grid, writes Poloko Tau.
The potholed road from Kroonstad to Maokeng township in the Free State gets worse each year. As you approach the Naledi Trust community of 34 homes on the other side of the township, you see a creaky windmill standing in a field, blades whirring. The pump it is connected to last worked years ago.
Unemployed Mpho Kopele sits at home with his laptop, listening to his House music – something he couldn’t do before. His elderly neighbour, Leah Mabitle, stands in her kitchen doorway watching her grandchildren play. On the other side of the village, the smell of breakfast still hangs in the air outside pensioner Mohau Motingoe’s kitchen. In this community, life has gone from “depressing” to “normal”, thanks to an initiative by Anglo American Platinum, which uses platinum as a catalyst in methanol fuel cells to generate electricity.
Anglo American Platinum’s fuel cell installation at Naledi Trust supplied power to 34 homes in the village, pictured in the background
Before that, Naledi Trust “was nothing more than a forgotten and hopeless community”.
Motingoe said they were taken off the grid for five years in 2010 because they were unable to pay.
“[It] was the worst time of our lives – especially for our children and the young people, who started spending most of their time loitering in the streets and doing bad things because they were bored,” he said.
When Anglo American Platinum went looking for an off-the-grid neighbourhood to pilot its fuel cell technology, Naledi Trust was perfect. The technology was developed by Ballard Power Systems, which Anglo American Platinum invested in to develop markets for platinum group metals.
This trial project, a world first, which ended in 2016 proved how fuel cell technology could be used to electrify communities. Anglo American Platinum’s head of market development for precious metals Kleantha Pillay said the system “offers an efficient, low-carbon option when comparing it with supplying rural communities with power from diesel generators”. “Unlike other green alternatives such as wind power, these fuel cells can produce power whenever the demand exists,” she said.
At Naledi Trust, Anglo American Platinum installed a 14 000 litre tank that was filled with methanol fuel every month, as well as three fuel cells and four steel containers housing a battery bank, converter and an inverter control. These were connected to produce 15 kilowatts of fuel cell-generated power – enough to supply the 34 households with electricity. The same system can supply peak power demands of 60 kilowatts with electricity stored in its batteries. Motingoe said: “After five years of living in the dark, we have learnt to appreciate electricity and use it sparingly.”
Each household was given a few low-consumption appliances, including a fridge, iron, kettle, two-plate stove and six compact fluorescent lights. Kopele said before he had to walk 5km to charge his phone and laptop. The trial period for the pilot project came to an end in 2016, and Naledi Trust residents were switched back to Eskom’s grid. Anglo American Platinum engineering consultant Clive Seymour said the trial exceeded their expectations: “When we started, we had no idea what the demand pattern would be – we really overestimated the demand. With the same equipment, we can provide 70 homes with power.”