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JIMMY MOYAHA: Renergen is the corporate that discovered the numerous deposit of helium and fuel close to Virginia within the Free State.
The firm’s been engaged on this venture since 2016, and it has now introduced that it has began to supply the first business liquefied pure fuel in South Africa and can promote it to Ardagh Glass Packaging, beforehand Consol Glass, and Italtile subsidiary Ceramic [Industries]. These contracts will end in Renergen incomes its first business income.
Read: Renergen begins delivering SA’s first domestically produced business LNG
Stefano Marani is on the road. He’s the CEO of Renergen. Stefano, thanks a lot for becoming a member of me. You’ve been going for over six years now, almost seven years, so this should be a giant day in Renergen’s brief historical past. You’ve earned your first income.
STEFANO MARANI: If you need to be technically right, we purchased the sphere again in 2013. So sure, to reply your query, it’s a huge day. It’s significantly fulfilling to go and see these deliveries being made to the purchasers, and the purchasers by the identical token being as completely satisfied as they’re with what’s being delivered.
JIMMY MOYAHA: You produce liquefied pure fuel, LNG, in South Africa, however Sasol already presents industrial purchasers pure fuel which it will get from Mozambique. Apart from the plain [fact] that the one is a fuel and the opposite is a liquid, are there important variations between the 2?
STEFANO MARANI: I suppose the elemental key distinction is transportability. Natural fuel is lighter than air, and so sometimes what occurs is that pure fuel will get transported by means of a pipeline.
If you could have the pipeline infrastructure, like they do in Europe or like they do within the United States or in China, it’s nice, since you’ve obtained the plumbing in every single place.
If you aren’t in a metropolis or a city that has the mandatory plumbing – the pipes underground to maneuver the fuel – then there’s no approach which you can obtain this fuel as a product.
That’s when you must begin taking a look at issues like both compressing the fuel or liquefying the fuel.
And so liquefied pure fuel is a method of transferring power at an extremely excessive density of power over lengthy distances by truck. That signifies that we are able to begin to service cities that don’t have pure fuel, like Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, and Welkom, and so on.
JIMMY MOYAHA: Is it not much more costly than regular pure fuel?
STEFANO MARANI: It is costlier, nevertheless it’s additionally costlier for one more purpose. In order to get it right down to liquid standing, it’s a way more purified model of fuel and pipeline fuel, which signifies that it’s slightly bit extra area of interest within the sense that there are considerably fewer impurities, and so consequently you have a tendency to make use of it in far higher-end makes use of.
JIMMY MOYAHA: What is your liquefied or pure fuel capability on the plant at present, and the way a lot of which can be you promoting to Ardagh and Ceramic?
STEFANO MARANI: At the second in part one we’re at about 60% to 65% of the plant’s capability, and that’ll get ramped as much as 100% by the center of subsequent yr. Essentially all of that product goes to these two prospects.
The ultimate batch, the ultimate ramp up, which is able to happen, as I mentioned, in the course of the course of subsequent yr, will go to trucking prospects as an alternative to diesel, which clearly reduces greenhouse fuel emissions enormously.
But it’s additionally only a lot cheaper to run a truck on LNG than it’s to run it on diesel.
JIMMY MOYAHA: Now there’s important pleasure about Renergen, and there was because the firm listed as a result of the helium deposit close to Virginia within the Free State is so important, and many individuals are ready so that you can begin to produce helium – and you might be greater than a yr not on time. What is the standing of your helium manufacturing?
STEFANO MARANI: Unfortunately in October we had been 10 hours away from liquid helium popping out of the plant.
Then we had the setback with the conduction oil system, which isn’t a part of the plant, it’s one of many utilities. But the very fact is that the plant was reliant on it. So we warmed the plant up, we eliminated that conduction oil system, we put it again in. I believe the proof that the utilities at the moment are working is there, as a result of on the very least the LNG modules are working and we’re supplying prospects.
Now we’re going by means of the motions of finalising the commissioning [of the] helium system. So watch this area. It’s shut. I’m not going to decide to a date, however let me simply say that it’s shut.
JIMMY MOYAHA: ‘Close’ that means quickly. I believe lots of people might be very pleased with that. Have you signed the provision agreements for helium?
STEFANO MARANI: Those had been signed in 2015. Helium is in exceptionally brief provide proper now. Prices have gone ballistic, so there isn’t a scarcity of consumers in search of product proper now. We’re getting calls from Indonesia, from China, from Thailand, from the United States, from Germany, and just about in every single place. Everyone is in search of helium.
JIMMY MOYAHA: How a lot helium will you have the ability to produce? What can be your capability as soon as the plant runs at full capability?
STEFANO MARANI: I must remind you and the listeners [that] part one is a proof of idea. It’s not the massive occasion. So the proof of idea will provide about 150% of South Africa’s wants, simply to place it in context. And that’s the proof of idea.
It works out to about 350kg of helium per day, and it’s a really small quantity by international requirements. Globally, the complete planet consumes about 80 tonnes of helium per day.
It’s the second part the place issues begin to actually ramp up. In the second part we’ll be producing someplace between 5% to eight% of the complete planet provide of helium from the plant in Virginia.
JIMMY MOYAHA: And when do you foresee that taking place? When do you foresee switching on that plant?
STEFANO MARANI: All issues being equal, assuming that we handle to stay to the schedule with the requisite lenders and the fairness buyers for part two, part two needs to be operational in 2026, operating at very excessive ranges of capability.
JIMMY MOYAHA: So nonetheless a number of years away. Stefano, thanks a lot on your time. That was Stefano Marani, the CEO of Renergen.