Media Release
13 April 2023
In a major development of over 15 years, Mitochondria Energy announced its commitment to invest at least R4.3 billion over the next 4 years to establish the first Hydrogen Valley Innovation Hub in South Africa. The announcement was made by its Founder and CEO in the presence of the President of the Republic of South Africa Hon President Cyril Ramaphosa at the 5th South African Investment Conference (SAIC) taking place in Johannesburg on 13 April 2023.
“Today is a significant day in the history of Mitochondria Energy”, said Mashudu Ramano. “It is the culmination of a 15-year journey, to create a power generation product owned and produced by South Africans to make affordable, decentralized and sustainable energy services available to all. Today marks the arrival and emergence of the era of the prosumer, where consumers will now produce and provide for their own energy needs facilitated by fuel cell technologies and hydrogen.”
Mr Xola Sithole, the Program Director of the Program Management Unit (PMU) of the proposed Vaal SEZ commented; “we are delighted that Mitochondria Energy has decided to locate its manufacturing hub in the Vaal Region, the birthplace of Industrialization in South Africa and now poised to be the birthplace of sustainable and net-zero technology development, thanks to Emfuleni Municipality for allocating 700 hectares of land for this groundbreaking development. I can confirm that the interest in locating manufacturing in the proposed Vaal SEZ is very high with potential investments of in excess of R40 billion.”
Mitochondria Energy will build a state-of-the-art manufacturing hub starting off with its own fuel cell facility, scheduled to start operations in January of 2025. The facility will manufacture large-scale hydrogen power-generating solutions for the South African and African Markets. Mitochondria Energy has developed and owns its Fuel Cell Technology which will be locally manufactured. Each Fuel Cell System will comprise 50kW modules that will be packaged into larger systems to meet the everyday demands of medium-to-large businesses as well as form the backbone of microgrids. The development of this clean energy solution provides a solution to enable South Africa to meet its goals to transition to net zero carbon emissions.
The factory will train and develop youth from the local community facilitating participation in the emerging green hydrogen economy with up to 400 people being employed at the facility. Inclusive Development and Localisation are key to the success of this project and Mitochondria is working with local SMMEs and businesses to supply components for the Fuel Cell.
Mitochondria Energy is grateful to the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency and the Emfuleni Municipality for the 700 hectares allocated for the SEZ and also its funders, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), the Department of Trade Industry and Competition, and Sustainable Ethical Solutions Holdings for their contribution to the project.
About Mitochondria
Established in 2012, Mitochondria Energy is a developer of hydrogen-based solutions and technologies that are distributed, decentralized, sustainable and affordable. Mitochondria Energy’s vision is to alleviate Energy Poverty on the African continent by providing solutions that lead to an energy-secure and resilient Africa by 2050.