How can countries in Southern Africa become key players in the global green hydrogen trade? And what influence do the sustainability and certification requirements of potential importing countries have on this development? A new white paper, published by four Fraunhofer Institutes, systematically analyzes for the first time how different Power to X certification requirements shape the market ramp-up of hydrogen and synthetic energy carriers from the SADC region – and why strategic decisions are important even in early project phases. Fraunhofer IEG was part of the HySecunda project funded by BMFTR.
Green hydrogen and its derivatives are considered key technologies for a climate-neutral industry and international energy trade. For countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), this opens up new economic prospects as export regions. At the same time, the sometimes strongly divergent sustainability and certification requirements of the importing countries represent a central challenge: They have a significant influence on whether and under what conditions PtX products can gain access to international markets.
“With HySecunda, we are contributing equally to energy security in Germany and Europe and to economic development in southern Africa,” explains Dr. Christoph Nolden from Fraunhofer IEG. “The project is a building block for the international market ramp-up of green hydrogen and its derivatives.” Fraunhofer IEG coordinates the modelling work on system analysis in block “Scenarios for the ramp-up and interactions with certification schemes”. It models regional renewable energies, individual power-to-X projects and the global hydrogen market in detail. Furthermore, Fraunhofer IEG takes into account aspects such as e.g. Water availability and land use. The framework for this is a techno-economic energy system model that maps the overarching development of power generation capacities, power-to-X production capacities and infrastructures to be expanded and built (national and cross-border grids, export opportunities such as ports, CO2 and water supply).
The white paper was created as part of the HySecunda project funded by the BMFTR. In the joint project, nine Fraunhofer Institutes are working on an interdisciplinary basis for an international market ramp-up of green hydrogen and its derivatives in the SADC region. The successful ramp-up of an international hydrogen economy requires more than technological innovations alone. With HySecunda, the project team is therefore pursuing a systemic approach that brings together technology development, regulatory frameworks and capacity building in an integrated way. If these three dimensions are thought of together, sustainable value creation, international market integration and resilient hydrogen partnerships can be created.
Qualitative analysis of relevant import markets
As part of the project, a white paper entitled “Navigating PtX Certification Challenges: Qualitative Assessment of Sustainability Requirements and Cost Dynamics for Exports from the SADC Region” has now been published. The article provides a comprehensive qualitative overview of the political, legal and economic framework for PtX exports from the SADC region. Four potential import regions – the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan – are analysed with regard to their respective certification schemes, legal requirements and market incentive mechanisms. Among other things, the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) as well as instruments such as H2Global, atmosfair fairfuel, the British RTFO system and various quotas for sustainable aviation fuels are examined. The comparison shows which regulatory requirements are particularly relevant for producers in the SADC region and how much expectations vary between the import markets.
Impact on plant design, costs and investment decisions
A key finding of the analysis is that the sustainability criteria differ significantly in the import regions examined and are the strictest and most detailed in the EU. “These different requirements have a direct impact on the technical system design, the design of the PtX production facilities, and investment and operating costs,” explains Dr. Elena Timofeeva, researcher at Fraunhofer IEG and co-author of the white paper. “For project developers, this means that an early commitment to a target market is necessary in order to be able to design plants in compliance with certification and economically.”
In addition, the white paper summarises political feedback on the EU PtX criteria as well as results from stakeholder discussions on PtX certification in the SADC region. Based on the qualitative findings, further quantitative analyses are planned in the HySecunda project, which will investigate the influence of sustainability requirements on cost structures and system configurations of PtX plants in more detail by the end of the year.
Both in the EU and in other potential sales markets, hydrogen and its derivatives must meet certain sustainability criteria. Certification proves that these criteria are met and thus secures investments. In this context, Fraunhofer IEG is involved in the development of the DIN standard DIN 35809 “Sustainability criteria for hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives”. The standard is intended to define principles, criteria and indicators to enable a comprehensive assessment of environmental, social and economic sustainability aspects of the production, transport and storage of hydrogen and its derivatives.
About HySecunda
The HySecunda project aims to investigate, support and accompany the development of a hydrogen export economy in the region. This is done in the three areas of capacity building (project block I), market and system analysis including certification (project block II) and technology development (project block III). In Block I, education and training measures are being developed and training courses are being carried out to ensure the availability of the necessary specialist personnel to build up the hydrogen export economy. In Block II, scenarios for the ramp-up are analysed and developed and interactions with certification schemes are investigated. Block III comprises the technology development of electrolysers to improve surfaces, materials used and production processes to increase the efficiency and durability of components and to reduce costs. The Fraunhofer Institutes IMWS, ISC, IEE, IST, IWES, IKTS, ISE, ISI and IEG are working together in the HySecunda project as part of the Fraunhofer CINES cluster. Participating external partners are Linde, ITM Linde Electrolysis, SASOL and ENERTRAG SE
Further information and downloads
• To the white paper:
https://publica.fraunhofer.de/entities/publication/222b810d-018e-494d-9bb3-5e5d0d52d6a7 (publica.fraunhofer.de)
• Project websites HySecunda:
https://www.ieg.fraunhofer.de/de/projekte/hysecunda.html
hysecunda.fraunhofer.de
