Hydrogen: South Africa’s Grid Lifeline? A Case Study For The Rest Of The World.

In this special episode of The Hydrogen Podcast, we go beyond the headlines with a deep-dive case study on South Africa’s energy crisis—and hydrogen’s role in building resilience. ⚡ Key Topics CoveredGrid Reliability in Crisis: Eskom’s reliance on aging coal plants, Stage 6 load shedding, and the economic fallout of outages.Hydrogen as a Solution: Long-duration storage, grid backup, and industrial resilience powered by South Africa’s world-class solar & wind resources.Regional Strategies:Northern Cape: Multi-gigawatt projects like Boegoebaai targeting global hydrogen exports.Cape Town, Saldanha, Mossel Bay: Industrial ports ideal for hydrogen hubs.Johannesburg & Gauteng: Emerging hydrogen “valleys” linking transport, power, and heavy industry.Durban & Richards Bay: Maritime and industrial integration.Economic Impact: 30,000+ potential skilled jobs per year, billions in GDP, and domestic supply chains fueled by platinum group metals.Hydrogen Society Roadmap: Targets of 10 GW electrolyzers, 500,000 tonnes of annual green hydrogen, and hundreds of buses/trucks by 2030.Challenges: Infrastructure upgrades, financing gaps, water requirements, and balancing renewables with hydrogen deployment. 🌍 The Big Picture Hydrogen isn’t a silver bullet—but it could help South Africa transition from coal dependency toward a resilient, export-ready, renewable economy. The lesson is clear: execution and economics, not just vision, will determine success. Support the show