Continued from yesterday
The hydrogen storage either physical or material-based ought to be environmentally sustainable such that its infrastructural development will disrupt the ecosystem of the flora, fauna, and human communities in the storage hub. Safety guidelines ought to be developed at the earliest stage since compressed, liquefied, and cryo-compressed hydrogen require specific environmental conditions to be stored.
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The country can leverage the already matured technology used in the gas sector to develop storage facilities in Type III and Type IV vessels. Moreover, depleted gas reservoirs are viable candidates for underground hydrogen storage. As highlighted earlier, safety guidelines will need to be developed to evaluate the safety of using such depleted reservoirs for hydrogen storage. The same goes for metal hydrides, Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers, and hydrogen power fuels (for example, Ammonia, Methanol, etc.).

Hydrogen transportation refers to the need for infrastructure for delivering hydrogen to industrial hubs (where it will be utilised for the local chemical or heavy industry) or for further processing for export. There is a need for a roadmap for this infrastructural development in such a way that developing one transport infrastructure will not impede the development or growth of the other. The roadmap would encapsulate the transport via pipeline, trailers, and shipping. The necessary handling equipment and manpower to drive this would be adequately advocated in the strategic roadmap for the hydrogen transportation infrastructure.

Green hydrogen production, storage, and transportation should be coupled with local industries for its utilisation. Hydrogen is a feedstock for the chemical industries in the production of fertilizer, plastic, glass, and fuel refining. It is also being developed to serve as fuel for long-distance transport including buses and trucks, trains, aeroplanes, and in aerospace.

Hydrogen could also be used as a source of heat for the food, cement, steel, aluminium and chemical, industries. All these industries are already available in Nigeria. Developing and incentivizing local capacity utilisation for hydrogen will create a local demand for hydrogen. This will engender efficiency in the value chain and prevent associated wastage. It will also demonstrate that lessons had been learnt from the experience in the local petroleum industry wherein gas was being flared because there was no capacity for local utilisation. Therefore, the infrastructure development should be geared toward developing the local hydrogen economy.

However, all these would be nil if there is no clear pathway for financing hydrogen projects. This financial infrastructure will be a key catalyst in developing the other already mentioned infrastructure. But the forerunner to this investment is clear advocacy for the hydrogen economy. This advocacy will allow investors to see clear opportunities for which they could tie their funds. There should be a pathway for identifying potential hubs for the infrastructure development that will enable hydrogen to be an addition to the energy mix. Collaboration between policymakers, academia and NGOs interested in the energy economy should be established as a matter of urgency. Local capacity development in the hydrogen economy and the associated technology to drive it should be clearly defined and refined as the value chain continues to mature. There is a need for the policy makers to develop are clear unambiguous path in the hydrogen infrastructure. Peru, Tunisia, Egypt, and South Africa are already signalling their intent to become a major player in the international hydrogen economy. These countries are stating a vision of the various aspects of the green hydrogen value chain they intend to participate in. This is the way Nigeria needs to follow too.

Finally, there is a need for Nigeria to develop and demonstrate capacity by collaborating with other African countries that are moving together to harness the economy of hydrogen energy. The African Green Hydrogen Alliance for example, currently have only Egypt, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, and South Africa collaborating to develop the green hydrogen projects. At the policy level, efforts should be geared toward identifying and incentivizing local hubs for hydrogen utilisation. Coupling the hydrogen fuel into the local industries will quicken infrastructure development with excess capacity projected for export.
Concluded.

Adewumi, an engineer, is an energy researcher at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy, Economics and Law, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation-funded Centre of Excellence at the University of Ibadan.
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