Africa could provide 10% of the world's green hydrogen by 2050: report
As much as 60 million tonnes could be produced each year across the continent, but solar and wind power would have to grow more than 100-fold
Up to 10% of the global green hydrogen market could belong to the African continent if its plentiful solar and wind resources are built and leveraged in the right way, according to a new report by state-owned Abu Dhabi energy producer Masdar, using data from consultancy McKinsey.
Hydrogen: hype, hope and the hard truths around its role in the energy transition
“Ample land is available, and while many of the renewable resources on the continent were previously “stranded” and inaccessible, hydrogen and its derivatives can now help make use of them.
“Consequently, there is no conflict between developing renewables for hydrogen export and domestic energy access and affordability — both are possible, and green hydrogen deployment at scale can enable and accelerate domestic renewables deployment.”
The key numbers from the report show that:
- 30-60 million tonnes green hydrogen could be produced per year in Africa by 2050, providing 5-10% of the global demand
- Of the green hydrogen produced, up to 20 million tonnes could be used domestically, and up to 40 million tonnes could be exported to Asia and Europe
- The green hydrogen industry could add $60-120bn to Africa’s GDP by 2050
- Up to 3.7 million jobs could be created in green hydrogen and associated sectors
According to the report, 3,000TWh of renewable energy per year would be needed to produce 60 million tonnes of green hydrogen — more than 100 times the current production of solar and wind power in Africa. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), 28TWh was generated from solar and wind power across the continent in 2020.
Masdar dismisses the notion that building vast amounts of new wind and solar power to produce hydrogen would harm communities that could benefit by using that electricity directly.
“Scaling up green hydrogen is an opportunity to not only build a robust global-export sector on the African continent, but also to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy overall,” said Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, Masdar’s director of asset management and technical services. “The grid-connected renewables used for green hydrogen production can feed energy into the grid to provide affordable clean energy to under-resourced areas – notably, in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has an average electrification rate of only 48%”.
The report underlines that the build-up of an African hydrogen industry will not happen by default, outlining several challenges:
- A lack of clarity regarding national hydrogen visions and planning, which can make it difficult to make informed country-level investment decisions.
- Insufficient alignment among the high number of stakeholders involved locally — as well as internationally for export-oriented projects — which can cause friction and confusion.
- A lack of regulatory certainty that could reduce the “invest-ability” of projects by making returns more uncertain.
- Insufficient infrastructure such as service roads, transmission lines, and port facilities may be a concern, as they would be needed to enable giga-scale infrastructure projects in remote areas
- Certain capability prerequisites for installation and operation may also be lacking, such as an on-the ground supply chain presence or a workforce with the required training and experience.
- Large-scale hydrogen projects like these may involve high investment risks, such as notably higher financing costs than in other geographies.