Esther Fawole
Jack Fletcher is the co-founder, director and chief technology officer of Hydrogen Energy Applications (Hyena). He is also the south African innovator who invented Hyena Power Pod Generator.
Hyena Power Pod is a fuel-cell-based hydrogen generator that converts liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) into usable electricity, all within one device.
With the Power Pod innovation, Jack Fletcher’s aim is to revolutionise the provision of electricity in poor-grid locations throughout Africa by employing fuel cell technology that converts hydrogen into affordable, on-demand and weather independent electrical power from locally available fuel.
Fletcher said, Although hydrogen distribution infrastructure is practically non-existent in Africa, but he was able to identify LPG as an appropriate hydrogen carrier for on-site generation, as it is already widely used for cooking and heating throughout the continent.
The Hyena Power Pod comprises of two sections: a hydrogen generator and a fuel cell. In the fuel cell, hydrogen and air are converted to electrical power and water. The entire operation of the hyena power pod generator is silent while generating electrical power with 15% lower CO2 emission than a diesel generator.
Jack Fletcher wants to make fuel cells possible and practical in Africa, where these new hydrogen technologies often face obstacles will not be considered in developed regions, and he believes that the use of existing LPG infrastructure will make the Power Pod a real solution that will be truly transformative.
