Renewable energy and the unintentional danger it poses were some of the topics discussed at the 9th BRICS Young Scientists Forum currently under way in Sochi, Russia.

A game changer for the green hydrogen sector in South Africa is the storage units being constructed to keep the energy of the future.

Three provinces in South Africa are actively preparing to extract hydrogen from their coastlines. It’s hailed as a game changer in the energy field that will see large scale developments and create jobs.

Now scientists have created the containers where large quantities will be stored.

Dr David Tshwane is from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

“Most importantly we are developing various compounds that could be used to store hydrogen. You know that you need this hydrogen but the most important part is hydrogen should be stored, can be transported for future use. So you need the capacity of material managed to store more of those hydrogen in the form of gas or liquids forms.”

As electric vehicles become more popular, the batteries that power them are becoming a concern. Once it reaches 80 percent capacity, it reaches its end of life. Incorrect disposal can lead to disaster. This young innovator says they can now continue to green cycle by recycling them.

Vukile Mnyande says, “Making sure that the life cycle of electric is actually used to potential ensuring that there’s no wastage and also reducing the landfill and illegal and informal disposing of these batteries from there is the recycling which are also processing through our shredding facilities to make sure that less mess is also common with it be export or internal and local recycling and processing of materials.”

Ideas that need exposure and guidance, says Zipho Zwane from the Technology Innovation Agency, “Regardless of what they finish as in this competition they proceeded with their various journeys along their route to market and gaining more support and looking for more investments for their technologies to be defined so really this is just a platform for them to test and get market validation with their BRICS partners and for them to showcase what Africa really has.”

Delegates here hope to win funding for their projects through the Young Innovator Awards. But also to network and hopefully get funding through businesspeople from the BRICS world.