Why Kenya is joining global race to tap hydrogen fuel

3D illustration of wind turbines, solar panels and hydrogen gas tanks. [File, Standard]

Kenya is racing to embrace green hydrogen production as it seeks to catch up with the early adopters of the new technology globally and cement its renewable energy legacy.

The country has laid out plans to start and accelerate production of the gas while seeking to attract firms that can make use of green hydrogen as a modality of decarbonising their operations.

Kenya hopes to make use of the gas produced using wind, solar and geothermal power plants whenever they are not feeding the national electricity grid.

It will then use hydrogen to produce power for use during peak hours as well as the production of fertiliser and in industries such as transport, cement and steel production, mining and quarrying.

The Energy ministry also believes there is a huge opportunity in exporting the hydrogen produced locally to its neighbours.

KenGen recently started the search for a firm to draw a roadmap that will show how it will produce green hydrogen as well as other products associated with hydrogen such as ammonia, which is used in the production of fertiliser and water purification processes.

Here is what you need to know about the new technology

What is green hydrogen?

While not entirely new, green hydrogen production has in the recent past gathered momentum as more countries and large corporations seek to decarbonise and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is among the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

According to the United Nations, the use of hydrogen as a fuel as well as other applications is not a new concept. It has traditionally been produced using fuels that are not necessarily friendly to the environment such as coal. Production using renewable energy is, however, relatively new, with different countries and industries increasingly taking it up.

"It is currently widely used in different applications such as fuel for cars, refining petroleum, treating metals, producing fertiliser, and processing foods. Hydrogen releases a significant amount of energy when used as a fuel, almost three times what can be obtained from diesel or gasoline," said the UN in a July 2022 article titled Green Hydrogen: A Viable Option for Transforming Africa's Energy Sector, which was carried in its publication Africa Renewal.

"Like electricity, hydrogen can carry energy, but it needs a power-generation source such as fossil fuels or renewables to create it. Therefore, extracting hydrogen into usable form needs a lot of other energy."

Black, blue and green hydrogen

Hydrogen is given a colour code based on the form of energy that has been used to produce it.

"For example, black or brown hydrogen is produced from coal, and grey or blue hydrogen is derived from methane. Both use fossil fuels and release greenhouse gases. To be considered green hydrogen, the electricity required for its production should mostly come from renewable power sources, such as solar, wind and geothermal," says the UN in its report.

Why spend energy to produce energy?

"Green hydrogen, being an energy carrier, would act like a battery that allows the storage of excess energy created by renewables, like solar and wind during their peak cycles. It would reduce the intermittency of renewables that cannot generate power at all hours of the day, ensuring a sufficient and continuous supply of power for grids. This is what makes green hydrogen attractive on the frontiers of decarbonisation - the promise of significant usable energy without contributing to climate change," says the UN.

The front runners in green hydrogen production

Countries such as China, the US, India, Japan and the EU, are, according to the World Economic Forum, among the front runners in the production of green hydrogen. Most of these markets have in the past heavily produced hydrogen using fossil fuels such as coal, referred to as black hydrogen. In Africa, Namibia, Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa are among the early adopters, with the countries having unveiled roadmaps for green hydrogen production.

Last year, Namibia said it plans a green hydrogen project estimated to cost $9.4 billion (Sh1 trillion) and is expected to start hydrogen production in 2026.

The project is initially expected to generate 2,000 megawatts of renewable electricity for regional and global markets.

Kenya makes inroads

In Kenya, the energy carrier is starting to get some interest, and last month the country's largest power producer KenGen started the search for a consultant to carry out feasibility studies for green hydrogen, ammonia and fertiliser production.

"The country is expected to become the preferred location for the green hydrogen economy because of the high penetration in renewable energy, greater land availability, easy access to water sources, transport infrastructure and port facilities. The company generates more than 85 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, for example, hydropower, geothermal, solar and wind, energy which places it in a strategic position to lead the rollout of green hydrogen," said KenGen.

"Green hydrogen is a zero-emissions source of the hydrogen gas used in manufacturing green ammonia, which is used to produce carbon-neutral fertiliser products. It is also used as a feedstock in chemical, refining, and steel industries and it can also act as a buffer for energy generated from intermittent renewable sources."

The Energy Ministry constituted a working group last year to look into green hydrogen opportunities in Kenya, which submitted its report in February this year.

The working noted that there are huge opportunities for the country to produce hydrogen using renewable power plants. These tend to produce a lot of power during non-peak hours, and hence it is not taken up.

"Kenya has abundant sources of renewable energy, though solar and wind are intermittent, geothermal is baseload and produces more electricity that is needed in non-peak hours," said the working group in its report.

Why it makes sense for Kenya

The country has vast renewable energy resources. Some of them, such as wind and solar, are intermittent and not always available when needed. Power producers can use these renewable energy sources to produce green hydrogen and use it as a form of energy storage and tap it later to produce energy during peak times.

Power production using wind usually peaks in the morning hours at around 4am, while solar is only available during the day. The country experiences peak power demand during the evenings, which has made it difficult to use the power from the two green sources when it is most needed.

"While there is surplus capacity in the Kenyan power system, which allows nearly 100 per cent renewable energy based power generation, it relies on fossil fuel-based generation for peaking capacity (to supply power in the evening), to balance fluctuating supply from wind, solar and hydropower and for regional network stability," noted the Energy Ministry.

"Green hydrogen-based generation (fuel cells, gensets or gas turbines) is an additional peaking candidate, fuelled with short term stored hydrogen from regular surplus renewable energy generation."

The report, however, warns that there are risks to introducing hydrogen in the power generation mix as it is characterised by high technical losses. The country also does not have adequate gas transport and storage system.

The Ministry's report noted that agriculture could be the biggest beneficiary of local production of hydrogen. Nitrogen fertilisers are produced using hydrogen through its intermediate product of ammonia.

While there is some local production, Kenya currently imports most of its fertiliser from Europe, North Africa, the US and South Africa. Upping local production could reduce retail prices of the crucial input and improve food security. It could also export to neighbouring countries, which are also net importers of fertilisers.

"Fertiliser production is seen as one of the key sectors where today large volumes of hydrogen are used to derive nitrogen fertilisers, mainly through the intermediate product of ammonia," said the report.

"The combined sector of agriculture and fertiliser production is the most relevant for green hydrogen in Kenya as it could be competitive, considering import or transport costs, foreign exchange and other supply risks as well as subsidies in the sector and additional benefits."

Other industries that could benefit from producing hydrogen in large volumes locally include manufacturing that can use it as fuel in processes such as chemical production, cement manufacturing and steel production. Hydrogen fuel could also power heavy-duty vehicles used in mining and quarrying.