H2Global meets Africa

Potentials and measures for sustainable hydrogen and PtX ramp-up in Africa

H2Global meets Africa

The research project "H2Global meets Africa" investigates potentials and measures for a sustainable hydrogen and PtX ramp-up in Africa. The project is coordinated by OTH Regensburg under the leadership of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Sterner at the Research Center for Energy Networks and Energy Storage (FENES). The work is carried out together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology Kassel (IEE) as a project partner and in close cooperation with the H2Global Foundation. The research project will run for 42 months, starting on 01.01.2023 and ending on 30.06.2026. The funding amounts to approx. 4.2 million euros.

In order to achieve national and international climate protection targets and to diversify the energy supply in Germany and Europe and make it more secure, a ramp-up of the hydrogen economy is of crucial importance both nationally and internationally. Two things are important for this ramp-up: stable international partnerships and a stable legal and financial framework.

The aim of the research project is to enable African partner countries to enter the global hydrogen economy. To this end, a comprehensive transfer of knowledge is taking place and specific H2/PtX value and supply chains between Africa and Europe/Germany are evaluated. The transformation of the energy systems in Europe, Germany and Africa will be considered in an integrated manner through coupled energy system modeling in order to identify common transformation paths and potentials. In addition, the project will develop measures to promote the market ramp-up of hydrogen in Africa, such as a catalog of criteria and financing instruments. Key project results and models will be made available as open source or open data and contribute to promoting the hydrogen sector in Africa and strengthening cooperation between Europe and Africa.