Four Fraunhofer Institutes have published a whitepaper on the certification of Power-to-X products (PtX) from Southern Africa. The paper is titled "Navigating PtX Certification Challenges: Qualitative Assessment of Sustainability Requirements and Cost Dynamics for Exports from the SADC Region" and was created as part of the HySecunda project funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR). The whitepaper is available for download on the Fraunhofer publication platform.
The analysis compares the certification schemes, legal requirements, and market incentive mechanisms of four potential import regions: the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Japan. Among other things, the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) and instruments such as H2Global, atmosfair fairfuel, the UK RTFO system, and various quotas for sustainable aviation fuels are examined. The aim is to show which regulatory requirements are particularly relevant for producers in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
EU Sets Strictest Requirements
A key finding: The sustainability criteria differ significantly in the import regions examined. According to the whitepaper, they are most stringent and detailed in the EU. These differences directly affect the technical system design, the layout of PtX production facilities, as well as investment and operating costs, according to the authors.
"For project developers, this means that an early decision on a target market is necessary to design facilities in a certification-compliant and economical manner," explains Elena Timofeeva, researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy (IEG) and co-author of the whitepaper.
Quantitative Analysis Planned by Year-End
In the HySecunda project, further quantitative analyses are planned by the end of the year. These will examine in more detail the impact of sustainability requirements on cost structures and system configurations of PtX plants. Fraunhofer IEG coordinates the modeling work for system analysis. It models regional renewable energies, individual Power-to-X projects, and the global hydrogen market, also considering water availability and land use.
"With HySecunda, we contribute equally to energy security in Germany and Europe and to economic development in Southern Africa," says Christoph Nolden from Fraunhofer IEG. "The project is a building block for the international market ramp-up of green hydrogen and its derivatives."
Nine Fraunhofer Institutes and External Partners
In the HySecunda joint project, the Fraunhofer Institutes IMWS, ISC, IEE, IST, IWES, IKTS, ISE, ISI, and IEG collaborate within the Fraunhofer Cines cluster. Involved external partners are Linde, ITM Linde Electrolysis, Sasol, and Enertrag. The project pursues an approach of capacity building, market and system analysis including certification, as well as technology development of electrolyzers.
In parallel, Fraunhofer IEG is involved in the development of the DIN standard 35809 "Sustainability Criteria for Hydrogen and Hydrogen Derivatives." The standard aims to define principles, criteria, and indicators for assessing ecological, social, and economic sustainability aspects in the production, transport, and storage of hydrogen and its derivatives.
