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SA’s green hydrogen plans are fraught with complications
- Green hydrogen production could help the economy but experts warn it could just as easily hamper it.
- Hydrogen production, especially with sustainability in mind, is fraught with complications.
- If a methodical approach isn’t taken, green hydrogen could be a weight around the economy’s neck.
South Africa, like other nations, hopes to use green hydrogen as a sustainable energy source for everything from powering factories to fuelling trucks.
What’s more, President Cyril Ramaphosa believes that the energy source can be financially beneficial to the country.
“It has been estimated that the hydrogen economy has the potential to add 3.6% to our GDP by 2050 and approximately 370 000 jobs. We must act with purpose to harness the potential of the green hydrogen economy,” the President said speaking at the Green Hydrogen Summit in 2023.
That sounds very tempting but chemical engineering specialists have warned that the journey toward establishing an economy around green hydrogen is complicated and if South Africa hopes to avoid these complications it needs to be smart about implementation.
“The success of green hydrogen projects depends on simultaneously developing infrastructure that will transport the green hydrogen to industry. It will also need industries to adopt new technology or convert existing equipment so that they can switch from using fossil fuels to using green hydrogen,” Craig McGregor and Bruce Douglas Young write for Wits University.
The pair have studied how markets that rush to implement green hydrogen initiatives tend to see them fail. From use, to transport, the supply chain requires many adaptations to make hydrogen work as an energy source.
More important though is the production of the green hydrogen. This is accomplished through electrolysis which uses renewable energy but requires fresh water. As South Africa is a water scarce country, this water would need to come from the ocean which means desalination plants would have to be setup. These would also need to be powered through sustainable means in order to maintain the “green” moniker.
And we aren’t even at the complicated part of all of this.
As McGregor and Young have found, one of the most complicated aspects of green hydrogen production is the transportation of the fuel. This needs to be done through high pressure pipelines. Alternatively, it can be stored as a different chemical or made into a liquid by dropping it to -253 degrees Celsius. The specialists warn though that up to 48 percent of hydrogen’s energy can be lost in transportation and more energy is required to convert hydrogen in this manner.
And before that can happen, there is the question of who is going to use this energy source. While natural gas users could adapt their systems to use hydrogen, this still requires work and as we have seen with electric vehicles, people are averse to change.
Fuelling stations, factories and other industries need to invest in hydrogen powered energy sources in order for the production to be feasible. While government is looking into the feasibility of hydrogen power within the economy and has also set up funding mechanisms that support renewable energy sources.
There’s also the matter of safety, hydrogen is very volatile and citizens would need to be educated about the proper use and storage of the fuel source.
There is also the question of whether all of this effort is fiscally viable in South Africa.
“But the cost of producing and transporting green hydrogen is up to five times the cost of a fossil fuel alternative. Hydrogen is also very difficult to transport across the ocean. This means there is no chance of big green hydrogen exports happening in the short to medium term. These factors create risks for a potential green hydrogen industry that will make it difficult for green hydrogen projects to attract financing. Production facilities costing billions cannot be justified if transportation systems and end users aren’t ready and waiting,” writes McGregor and Young.
The pair says that in many cases, hydro power, solar and wind energy are more affordable and efficient compared to hydrogen.
That may be the case now but overtime, as all things tend to do, hydrogen could become more popular. A few years ago solar panels were mighty expensive and today you can buy them from Checkers.
The thing that South Africa needs to do however, is be methodical about hydrogen production and use. Investing billions into companies that bring the energy source to the fore is great but at the same time we must balance this production with demand.
Getting this right is going to be tough but if we do, perhaps South Africa could leave fossil fuel behind.
The post SA’s green hydrogen plans are fraught with complications appeared first on Hypertext.
February 18, 2025 at 11:38AM
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