- It will also support six postdoctoral fellowships in green hydrogen, energy storage and waste utilisation.
- Sasol announced a R40 million (US$2.2m) five-year investment in clean energy research with the country’s National Research Foundation.
South African energy and chemicals company Sasol announced a R40 million (US$2.2m) five-year investment in clean energy research with the country’s National Research Foundation on 10 February. The funding will support four national research chairs, two in energy and power systems and two in green hydrogen. It will also support six postdoctoral fellowships in green hydrogen, energy storage and waste utilisation.
Pretoria and Cape Town universities will host the two chairs in energy and power systems modelling. Ramesh Bansal from UP has been appointed as one of the chairs. He is the group head of the university’s electrical, electronic and computer engineering departments. Sunetra Chowdhury, associate professor of electrical engineering, will occupy the UCT chair. Chowdhury told Research Professional News that the appointments come at a “strategic moment” for South Africa, given the country’s energy crisis and accompanying push for renewable energy deployment. She stressed, “I strongly believe it will allow me to build effective research collaboration links between academia and industry in South Africa and abroad.”
The chairs in green hydrogen have been awarded to Tien-Chien Jen, head of the mechanical engineering department at the University of Johannesburg, and Prathieka Naidoo from Stellenbosch University. Jen said, “In addition to this chair’s innovation, it will build capacity for next-generation researchers and postgraduate students. The two-year fellowships will include dedicated research time at Sasol’s research facilities in Sasolburg.” NRF and Sasol said they have jointly committed R150 million to industry-linked research and innovation projects over the next five years to support clean energy programmes. Today, the company produces synthetic fuels and operates in the chemical, nuclear, coal tar and electricity sectors. Environmental groups say Sasol’s Secunda plant near Sasolburg is one of the world’s greatest point-source emitters of greenhouse gases.