The South African government has announced plans to increase spending into the research of hydrogen and fuel cell technology over the next three years. They believe that, with the country’s metal rich resources, an increase in research could create more manufacturing and more income for the country.
The government announced to spend ZAR 400 million, which equates to roughly $49 million USD.
80% of the money is planned to be siphoned into the development of technology and expertise in the sector, while 20% is expected to fund research in the private sector.
One of South Africa’s natural resources is platinum, a common catalyst in fuel cells. If South Africa was to increase the development, and thus increase production of fuel cells, then the country would benefit. This is backed up by the government’s hope that, by 2020, they will supply a quarter of the global catalyst demand for fuel cells.
Hydrogen research, however, will focus on developing high-temperature, gas-cooled nuclear reactors, as well as coal gasification technology.
Source: Cleantech
credit: Rob Inh00d at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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