Western Cape Government Powers Forward With Green Hydrogen Ambitions

On Thursday, 12 June, Premier Alan Winde led a Western Cape Government delegation at the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit 2025, being held in Cape Town.

Themed, “Unlocking Africa’s Green Hydrogen Potential for Sustainable Growth,” the summit brings together an array of stakeholders, among them government officials, policymakers, and investors, to take forward not just South Africa but Africa’s green hydrogen (GH2) ambitions.

The Western Cape Government, through its Energy Resilience Programme and Western Cape Green Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, is exploring all feasible and sustainable energy solutions to secure the province’s energy security, vital to growing the province’s economy and creating jobs.

“Our embrace of green hydrogen comes at a critical time for our province, country, and the world. We cannot afford to waste any more time addressing the climate change crisis. This crisis requires sustainable energy solutions that strike a balance between the need to boost economic growth and work towards a low-carbon future. By exploiting innovative technologies, such as GH2, we are futureproofing our province and country,” said Premier Winde.

Delivering the welcome address, Premier Winde noted, “It was said to me at the summit, we must move from PowerPoint to gigawatts. We have the Memorandum of Understanding between our province, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape in place to collaboratively develop South Africa’s first GH2 corridor with Namibia. We must now move from strategy to action.” The Western Cape Green Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, approved by the provincial Cabinet in 2024, aims to achieve:

• Economic growth and job creation.
• Energy security in the Western Cape and South Africa.
• Decarbonisation through increased renewable energy production

All of these factors, taken together, must build an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy mix for the Western Cape and South Africa.

GH2 presents an opportunity for breakout growth in the province: it offers a new domestic and export market, which will contribute to stimulating economic growth and job creation and will lay the foundation for skills development and increased job creation.

Dr Ivan Meyer, Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism, said, “Our province is uniquely positioned to lead in this space. With abundant solar and wind resources, world-class port infrastructure, and a robust regulatory and financial ecosystem, the Western Cape offers a compelling value proposition for green hydrogen investment. Our Green Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, aligned with South Africa’s national Commercialisation Strategy, sets an ambitious target of 15GW of green energy generation and up to 420,000 tonnes of hydrogen exports by 2035. This aligns seamlessly with our flagship economic strategy, Growth for Jobs, which aims to grow the Western Cape economy to R1 trillion and create 2 million jobs by 2035. Green hydrogen is not just an energy solution – it is a catalyst for industrial development, skills creation, job creation and regional integration.”