Modelling assessment of green hydrogen

On Tuesday, 20 June 2023, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) partnered with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and Energy Council of South Africa to establish a modelling capacity to support the just energy transition (JET).

South Africa is currently on a journey towards a more sustainable and just energy system, with renewable energy and hydrogen playing an increasingly important role.

“The signing was a significant achievement towards streamlining electricity and hydrogen activities in South Africa and through this partnership, the CSIR, TNO and Energy Council of South Africa will engage with various stakeholders to develop scenario planning models aimed at electrical and hydrogen infrastructure, as well as skills development,” says Dr Thabo Hlalele, CSIR Energy Centre manager.

The key objective of the partnership is to address the challenge of dealing with massive complexities and to:

• enable the involvement of diverse stakeholders in a tangible, value-adding and action-orientated manner;
• enable the related stakeholder/solution beneficiaries to better execute their roles and responsibilities, while benefiting from greater data-enabled business intelligence at a cost dramatically reduced by economies of scale and integration;
• positively impact the national and regional energy transition in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and justness; and
• support local and international stakeholders, including parties involved with JET, to engage and align with South African stakeholders, as well as implement measures related to the support of affected communities, deal with socioeconomic aspects and counteract climate change.
   

Through this partnership, the CSIR, TNO and Energy Council of South Africa aims to investigate the feasibility of establishing a collective planning and collaboration capacity in South Africa based on energy simulation models providing insights into scenarios for renewable energy and hydrogen developments.

The multilateral relationship derives from the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TNO, which was signed earlier this year, to collaborate on projects of mutual interest.

Following the signed agreement, further engagements took place between the South African-Dutch governments under the leadership of the Minister of Public Works, Sihle Zikalala.  From those engagements, the CSIR and TNO have agreed to sign a letter of intent (LoI) on scenario modelling assessment of green hydrogen.

To further strengthen the existing MoU with TNO, the Chief Executive Officer of the CSIR, Dr Thulani Dlamini, was also in attendance and took part in the signing of the LoI.  

“The next step of the tripartite collaboration is to define a detailed scope of work and secure funding,” adds Dr Hlalele.