HySecunda

Challenge

Green hydrogen will play a major role in the achievement of climate neutrality in Germany; the majority of it, however, will need to be imported. One potential supplier of green hydrogen is South Africa. As a result of its geographical location, South Africa offers renewable energy sources such as sun and wind, from which clean and sustainable hydrogen can be produced. The biggest challenges currently lie in storage, distribution and certification.

Solution

The HySecunda evaluative research for the HyShiFT project is aimed at the development of practice-oriented, scalable technological and capacitive solutions for the market ramp-up of green hydrogen in the entire SADC region (Southern African Development Community). With the objective of supporting capacity building, the Fraunhofer IST is developing a training concept that addresses country-specific needs. This should simultaneously enable the establishment and expansion of long-term local cooperation. A further focus of the work at the Fraunhofer IST is the development of cost- and resource-efficient solutions for electrolyzers. The focus here lies in particular on the utilization of innovative materials and technologies. This includes, amongst other things, the development of sensors for hydrogen detection as well as barrier and functional coatings for extending the service life and reducing costs.

Added value 

Through the collaboration of the “HySecunda” Fraunhofer consortium with business partners from the core project “HyShiFT”, in which the hydrogen-based production of green aviation fuels is being further developed and which also relies on the opportunities in South Africa, further thematic fields can be identified that can be supported and advanced in the region.