Six green hydrogen projects named as Phelan commits $100m in Saldanha Bay

Six green hydrogen projects now carry priority status under South Africa’s national programme, and the first of them has crossed the line from proposal to committed capital.

The Phelan Green Group’s electro-sustainable aviation fuel project at Saldanha Bay has reached final investment decision, with $100 million in equity committed and an offtake secured. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027, with first export of electro-sustainable aviation fuel expected in the first quarter of 2029.

The announcement was made in an address delivered on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa by the Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, at the African Green Hydrogen Summit 2026 at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town. The President addressed the summit virtually.

What the first wave contains

The six projects emerged from an assessment process that standardised how bankability is judged, a change the address describes as strengthening investor confidence. Alongside the Saldanha Bay project, the portfolio includes the Coega Green Ammonia Project in the Eastern Cape, which has completed early preparatory work, and the Saldanha Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron Project on the West Coast, at pre-feasibility stage, which would link green hydrogen to lower-emissions iron and steel production.

The Prieska Power Reserve in the Northern Cape is a green ammonia project aimed at the domestic market and is at development stage. The Green e-Fuels Producers Green Methanol Corridor targets European demand and is at pre-feasibility stage. The Green Hydrogen Solutions Project is smaller and directed principally at South African demand, and has completed front-end engineering design.

Five of the six have not yet reached a final investment decision. The address is explicit that further commercial, technical and financing work is needed on the Coega project before it gets there, and that designation as priorities gives government and its partners a mechanism to help the remaining five reach decision, construction and production. A second wave of projects is to follow.

The measure the President set

The address sets out a test for the programme that avoids the usual ground of announcements. Progress, it states, is not measured by presentations, announcements or the value of a pipeline, but by capital committed, equipment ordered, construction under way, production achieved and customers secured.

On that measure the Saldanha Bay project is the one that currently counts, and the address says so, describing it as giving practical meaning to the challenge set at last year’s summit. It also cites the World Economic Forum’s assessment earlier this year that the real bottleneck in scaling clean hydrogen is demand rather than technology, which is why long-term offtake agreements carry the weight they do.

Progress is not measured by presentations, announcements or the value of a pipeline. It is measured by capital committed, equipment ordered, construction under way, production achieved and customers secured.

What government is asking for

The address places obligations on three sets of partners. Technology partners are called on to establish manufacturing, training and research capacity in Africa, on the argument that the continent should not be treated simply as a market for imported equipment. Prospective buyers are asked to convert non-binding interest into credible long-term offtake arrangements capable of supporting project finance, which is the constraint the World Economic Forum finding identifies.

African development finance institutions are asked to move to the front, increasing project-preparation funding and offering instruments suited to the risks of first-of-a-kind projects. The address notes that South Africa continues to work with BRICS and European partners to diversify financing, and that the BRICS leaders who met at the 18th summit in New Delhi agreed to cooperate on zero and low-emissions hydrogen and its value chains.

The African Continental Free Trade Area is named as the mechanism that would open larger markets and enable regional value chains, and the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance as the route for practical cooperation on standards, certification, infrastructure corridors and project preparation.

The deadline behind the deadline

The address ties the programme to a harder clock than any project milestone. Fewer than four years remain to the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, and with them fewer than four years to make sufficient progress on Goal 7, affordable, reliable and modern energy for all.

That is the consequence for the people the programme is meant to reach. The argument in the address is that growing the green hydrogen economy matters beyond investment and a foothold in an emerging industry, because it is a route to improving the lives of millions of Africans who experience energy poverty. Expanding access to affordable energy and creating jobs across the value chain is described as what gives meaning to a just energy transition.

The address also sets a condition on how that happens. Communities are to be involved as stakeholders rather than passive bystanders, and the benefits are to include local procurement, manufacturing, employment and skills transfer.

What happens next

The dated steps are on the record. Construction at Saldanha Bay is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027, and first export of electro-sustainable aviation fuel in the first quarter of 2029. The remaining five projects in the first wave continue towards final investment decision, with a second wave to be added to the portfolio.

This account is drawn from the official address as published by the South African Government, which is a summary record of the remarks rather than a full transcript of proceedings at the summit.

Source: South African Government (www.gov.za), President Cyril Ramaphosa: African Green Hydrogen Summit 2026, https://www.gov.za/news/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-african-green-hydrogen-summit-2026-15-sep-2026