Green hydrogen and the future of sustainable energy use in South Africa

With 88% of their primary energy produced by fossil fuels, South Africa ranks as the 14^th highest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. Although the country has optimal locations for wind and solar harvesting, these renewable resources currently make up just 0.1% of primary energy sources.

Ayodele and Munda analyze the potential of green hydrogen in the South African energy mix. They explain the best ways to implement the use of this renewably-sourced hydrogen and the socio-economic benefits resulting from green hydrogen use.

Hydrogen can be stored and transported in various ways. This flexibility provides opportunity for hydrogen to be used in rural areas, where electricity poverty remains a prevalent issue. Ayodele and Munda describe current renewable energy policy incentives in South Africa, emphasizing the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Research, Development and Innovation Strategy, which focuses on the use of platinum as a catalyst in fuel cell technology. South Africa is home to 75% of the world’s platinum deposits, and Ayodele and Munda predict this could lead them to capture 25% of the world fuel cell market by 2020.

“The government needs to quantify renewable energy sources available to South Africa for hydrogen production and which sites should green hydrogen production plants be located,” Ayodele said. “The use of hydrogen-fueled vehicles should be encouraged by building hydrogen refueling stations, powered by renewable energy sources, at the identified potential sites. This will go a long way toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa, especially in the transportation sector.”

Future research will investigate the cost of generating carbon free hydrogen from renewable energy sources and the life cycle impact assessment of hydrogen production from various renewable energy sources in Africa.

Source: “The potential role of green hydrogen production in the South Africa energy mix,” by Temitope Raphael Ayodele and Josiah Lange Munda, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2019). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5089958 .