Water footprint and social implications of green hydrogen production : case study : Africa

Abstract

Green hydrogen production is an emerging technology for decarbonizing energy systems in Africa. Water utilization is high for green hydrogen production and that could lead to water scarcity. This thesis assesses water footprint and social aspects of solar, and wind powered hydrogen production under water scarce conditions. Volumetric Water Footprint (WFvol) Method and the Water Stress-Adjusted Water Footprint (WFadjusted) Method were used in this study. The WFvol,H2 of wind powered and solar powered hydrogen production were 9.2 m³/tH₂ and 34.7 m³/tH₂ respectively. Country specific water stress indices were used to adjust these values to indicate the spatial variability of WFadjusted. Wind powered hydrogen production shows the lowest WFadjusted. The countries with the highest water scarcity indices were Libya (8.1714), Algeria (1.4481), Egypt (1.4117) and Sudan (1.1866) while marking those as the countries with the highest WFadjusted. Full Load Hours were compared with WFadjusted, allowing country level recommendations for the most suitable renewable energy source to power the hydrogen production while minimizing water stress. Social implications were analysed using a triangular analysis of stakeholder surveys and literature. The results highlight the low public awareness, high costs associated with hydrogen production, usage of seawater with desalination, need for the strong policy frameworks, community participation and trust building mechanisms. The findings show the alignment of the hydrogen development mainly with the SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 13 (climate action). This study provides one of the continent-wide assessments connecting technical water footprinting and social dimensions of green hydrogen production in Africa.