Introducing the GREEN HYDROGEN ECONOMY to South Africans

As futuristic as it may sound, green hydrogen is here already and poised to change our energy landscape for the better.

Green hydrogen production is touted as an important future alternative fuel globally. Fully implemented, it could meet up to 12 percent of final energy consumption by 2050, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s World Energy Transitions Outlook report.

Green hydrogen presents enormous economic opportunities for developing and emerging markets, such as South Africa, whose bountiful supply of minerals and renewable energy resource positions it to maximise the array of opportunities this fairly new sector offers.

For this reason, SANEDI has collaborated with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the Renewables Academy (RENAC) to launch a series of webinars and workshops to capacitate and inform interested parties on the status of green hydrogen worldwide and opportunities for domestic development.

Hosted between March and November 2022, the webinar series contributed to a broad understanding of and dialogue on critical aspects of the hydrogen sector. Separated into three clusters of topics, the webinars have focused on strategy development and regulatory frameworks (cluster 1); private sector participation and the green hydrogen economy (cluster 2); and environmental and social affairs related to the development of the sector (cluster 3). The latter included discussions on the role of green hydrogen in realising a just energy transition in South Africa, Eskom’s plans for green hydrogen in relation to its carbon footprint, and the socioeconomic context and impacts of a green hydrogen economy and renewables in South Africa.

Wendy Poulton, founder of Strategic Mindsets, who spoke about how South Africa can become globally competitive in green hydrogen by developing an ecosystem of skills, is an example of the calibre of guests who participated in the webinars.

During March 2023, SANEDI hosted a number of site visits to expose stakeholders to green hydrogen in action. Included were the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone earmarked for green hydrogen fuel exports, Mogalakwena in the Waterberg District of Limpopo where green hydrogen is set to fuel the vehicles used for diamond, copper, titanium and platinum mining, and Johannesburg to showcase, among others, ethylene production with green hydrogen.

According to Dr Karen Surridge, acting general manager at SANEDI, the green hydrogen webinar and event series aligns with the National Hydrogen Roadmap, which highlights the importance of putting in place sector planning to provide transparency on future off-take and encourage technology partnerships between suppliers and clients.