In a lot of Africa, restricted and unreliable grid protection means many rely upon diesel turbines to energy their properties and companies. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, there are an estimated seven million back-up diesel turbines, consuming greater than $20 billion in diesel per yr.
As properly as releasing carbon dioxide, which contributes to international warming, diesel turbines emit tiny particles that scale back air high quality and may trigger respiratory problems and enhance threat of cardiovascular disease, and even cancer.
South African vitality startup Hyena is attempting to scale back the continent’s reliance on diesel turbines.
Its POWER PODs are round 1.5 meters lengthy, 1 meter broad and 1.8 meters tall and are meant to be used at places which are off grid or have an unreliable vitality provide. They convert liquid petroleum gasoline (LPG) into hydrogen, after which into electrical energy, producing warmth and water as by-products.
The POWER PODs produce no dangerous particulates, and launch 15% much less carbon dioxide than diesel turbines, in accordance to Hyena co-founder Jack Fletcher.
Fuel cells that generate electrical energy from hydrogen usually are not a brand new expertise, however they’ve seen restricted adoption in Africa due to an absence of infrastructure for hydrogen manufacturing, storage and distribution. Hyena’s innovation is to develop one that additionally produces hydrogen from LPG — a combination of gases together with propane and butane.
“Liquid petroleum gas is the same gas you would buy locally to cook on or to heat your house,” Fletcher tells NCS.
“It’s available throughout Africa and it can be stored easily. The regulations for its use are already in place (and) people are familiar with using it, so there’s no extra barrier to its use.”
Fletcher says that by producing hydrogen from LPG on the level of use, the POWER POD may allow the widescale deployment of gas cell expertise throughout the continent, even in distant places.
He sees one of its major makes use of as powering telecommunications towers, which require an virtually fixed vitality supply. Due to frequent grid outages and lack of connectivity, three quarters of Africa telecom towers are powered by “grid/diesel hybrid systems,” in accordance to market analysis agency Mordor Intelligence.
The first proof-of-concept deployment of a POWER POD on a stay tower is anticipated in early 2026.
As properly as being cleaner, gas cells are additionally quieter than diesel turbines and require much less upkeep, Dr. Sakib Khan, founder of South African hydrogen financial system consultancy Enerleq, who is just not related to Hyena.
While the POWER PODs nonetheless emit carbon dioxide, Khan thinks hybrid applied sciences like Hyena’s, which use present gas infrastructure, will probably be important for de-carbonizing Africa.
“The solution that Hyena has come up with is a pragmatic solution, it’s a bridge,” he says, including that Africa should take into account social and political concerns when implementing inexperienced vitality applied sciences.
“Our net-zero path will look different to, say, Europe’s. It will be more decentralized,” he provides. “In Europe … just about everybody has energy, (so) you’ll be able to deal with emissions.
“We also have to look at energy access and balance that with emissions as well.”
Global hydrogen manufacturing reached virtually 100 million metric tons in 2024 however lower than 1% was derived from low-emissions hydrogen applied sciences, in accordance to the International Energy Agency.
The Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance, which goals to foster collaboration between hydrogen-producing African nations, highlights that the continent has huge photo voltaic and wind assets, and that these make it well-placed to change into an essential producer of green hydrogen — hydrogen made from water utilizing renewably generated electrical energy.
“When green hydrogen is available, this can be fed directly into the fuel cell, leading to zero-carbon emissions,” says Fletcher, who hopes the POWER POD will probably be a step in direction of a large-scale transition in Africa to carbon-free vitality.
While the South African authorities has laid out several initiatives to assist the nation’s hydrogen financial system, Fletcher says that “there are not a lot of investors in hydrogen in Africa.”
He says Hyena has raised roughly $2 million — together with from the University of Cape Town, the place the company started as a analysis unit — however wants extra.
“The biggest challenge we’ve had so far is raising the necessary amount of funding. The technology is not cheap, especially as a startup. We are only producing a few units at a time,” he provides.
The expertise may very well be accessible for home use “in the longer term,” provides Fletcher, if the company can enhance its manufacturing capability and convey down manufacturing prices.
Khan says worth may very well be a barrier to the adoption of gas cell expertise, like POWER PODs, as may coaching individuals to use them, including that “there is a cost associated with upskilling people.”
Nevertheless, Fletcher has excessive hopes for the POWER POD. “I think we’re probably about a year or two away from really putting our technology out there,” he says.
“We now have a system… we can deploy anywhere in the world using available fuel infrastructure, so that now makes fuel cells a real possibility.”