Synergies Between Green Hydrogen and Renewable Energy in South Africa

South Africa has excellent conditions for renewable energy generation, making it well placed to produce green hydrogen for both domestic use and export. In building a green hydrogen economy around export markets it will face competition from countries with equivalent or better resources and/or that are located closer to export markets (e.g., in North Africa and the Middle East) or have lower capital costs (developed markets like Australia and Canada). South Africa, however, has an extensive energy system with unserved electricity demand. The ability to trade electricity with the national grid (feeding into the grid during times of peak dedicated renewable energy supply and extracting from the grid during times of low dedicated renewable energy availability) could reduce the cost of producing green hydrogen by as much as 10–25 %. This paper explores the opportunity for South African green hydrogen producers presented by the electricity supply crisis that has been ongoing since 2007. It highlights the potential for a mutually reinforcing growth cycle between renewable energy and green hydrogen to be established, which will contribute not only to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions but to the local economy and broader society.