Green Hydrogen fuel potential in sub-Saharan Africa

Energy is one of the major driving factors for the socio-economic development of every country. The per capita consumption of energy in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) is 180 kWh, as compared to 13,000 kWh per capita in the United States and 6,500 kWh in Europe. Population growth, rise in industrialization, and increased middle-class households would put pressure on electricity consumption resulting in an energy crisis and environmental pollution in the region. As a result, the continent needs to embrace an effective use of renewable energy sources such as solar, biomass, wind, and hydroelectric in its power architecture to address long-standing energy deficits and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Governments and institutions across the world are committing to achieving emission-neutral status over the decades to come. For instance, the European Commission has proposed a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, considering hydrogen as a key fuel, and developing the technology to expand its use is a priority making it a feature of its NextGenEU funding packages.

To accelerate the energy drive for the continent, countries should harness the benefit of green hydrogen. Hydrogen is one of the most abundant chemical elements in the world and the first in the periodic table with atomic number 1. It is produced by splitting water with electrolysis, a process that uses electricity, a conducting fluid, and a metal catalyst (usually platinum) in a fuel cell. Hydrogen is light, storable, and energy-dense, but not all are planet friendly. 

There are basically four types of hydrogen, these are: Grey hydrogen which is produced with fossil fuels and emits a lot of carbon  dioxide, Blue hydrogen which is produced with fossil fuels through carbon capture and storage technologies, is less polluting than grey hydrogen, Turquoise hydrogen is produced by pyrolysis from natural gas but is still a fossil fuel, not emission-free. Green hydrogen is obtained through the use of renewable energies in its production, thus, the only by-product of the process is water, resulting in a clean, sustainable system with zero pollution.

Countries like Namibia took this initiative in 2021 to announce a USD 9.4 billion green hydrogen project which would produce 300,000 tons of hydrogen annually for regional and global markets and planned to start production in 2026. The continent should embrace this technology even though it is very expensive to produce green hydrogen and it is capital intensive but it can be used mostly as a substitute for fossil fuels in sectors like industries that are difficult to decarbonize and heavy transport sectors such as maritime transport and aviation. For utility providers, hydrogen can also be used as a way to store energy from intermittent renewable sources by converting the excess energy into hydrogen for later use, as an alternative to battery storage.

With significant hydrogen endowment potential, six African countries including Egypt, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, and South Africa launched the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA) in May 2022 at the first Hydrogen Global Assembly in Barcelona. The aim of the alliance is to make the continent a frontrunner in the race to develop green hydrogen, accelerating the transition from reliance on fossil fuels and shifting to new energy technologies. 

Green hydrogen development in sub-Saharan Africa might be seen as far-fetched but with collaboration, investments, the right policies, and infrastructure it can be achieved. The benefits include enhanced access to affordable and clean energy, job creation, providing public health benefits such as cleaner air, promotion of new green industries, wealth creation, and opportunities for new export revenues.