Using Africa's abundant renewable energy, the continent can manufacture green hydrogen that can lead to the manufacture of green ammonia and eventually zero carbon fertilisers, that can be supplied across Africa. BritishIntInv ClimateEmergency
Using Africa's abundant renewable energy, Mugwe Manga of Olsuswa Energy argues the continent can manufacture green hydrogen that can lead to the manufacture of green ammonia and eventually zero carbon fertilisers, that can be supplied across Africa.
Focused and hard at work, he manually prunes his tea bushes with a machete as I approach slowly. We quietly greet one another in the Kikuyu language that is widely spoken in the region – “Wî mwega?”. He responds that he is well but worries deeply for his tea bushes’ productivity – his main source of income. The double tragedy of poor rains and high fertiliser prices is synonymous to many farmers on the continent.in the world accounting for about 22 per cent of global exports.
The ability for the world to produce synthetic ammonia meant that it could be used as a feedstock to making large amounts of synthetic fertiliser and boost food production. However, this has come at a massive cost to the environment because the process consumes huge amounts of energy.The majority of synthetic fertilizers are produced using natural gas . As of 2021, the natural gas use in synthetic fertilizer manufacturing emitted over 14 gigatons of carbon, representing 10.
In countries such as Kenya that is home to the world’s largest geothermal reservoirs this is even more attractive. Geothermal energy – the combination of hot rocks underground and water to make steam, possess a great opportunity. Because geothermal is base load power i.e., produces energy 98 per cent of the time unlike other renewables that are intermittent. Such an energy source can produce zero carbon fertilizer at a very competitive cost. If this can be achieved the benefits can be numerous.