Promoting Green Hydrogen in Brazil (H2Brazil)

Project description

Title: H2Brasil - Green Hydrogen Expansion
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Brazil
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME)
Overall term: 2021 to 2023

Gewinnung erneuerbarer Energie durch Windräder © GIZ / Thomas Imo/photothek.net

Context

The share of renewable energy in Brazil has been increasing in recent years from 46.1 per cent in 2019 to 48.4 per cent in 2020. At the same time the production costs for renewable energy have been falling. The low production costs, in combination with Brazil’s geological and climatic conditions, make Brazil a promising country for the production of green hydrogen.

Green hydrogen (GH2) is produced by electrolysis with electric energy from renewable sources and is therefore emission free. GH2 is essential for decarbonisation, especially in “hard-to-abate” sectors.

Industry is the main consumer of hydrogen. Nowadays, the hydrogen consumed is mostly obtained from fossil sources, emitting millions of tons of CO2.

GH2 produced in Brazil could be used in the transport sector, the chemical industry, refineries, the food industry and in metal, cement and steel production.

Brazil also features the infrastructure to become a major exporter of GH2.

Objective

The legal, institutional and technological conditions for the development of the green hydrogen market in Brazil have been improved.

Gewinnung Erneuerbarer Energie durch Solarpaneele. © GIZ / Thomas Imo/photothek.net

Approach

To improve legal, institutional, and technological conditions for the development of a GH2 market, H2Brasil is structured into five components:

  • To improve the structuring conditions for the development of the GH2 market the project elaborates energy planning scenarios, indicates needs in the current regulatory framework, and analyses the implementation of a certification system.
  • It conducts studies and campaigns on the importance of GH2 and promotes knowledge and experience exchange with multipliers and media representatives.
  • The project promotes universities and other educational institutions to include GH2 in their curricula. It supports the establishment of GH2 laboratories with learning infrastructure for vocational training in GH2 technologies - with specific focus on gender inclusion.
  • It fosters innovative technologies along the GH2 value chain and supports exchange programmes between Brazilian and German universities and research institutions.
  • The project helps the private sector to evaluate the economic viability of different industrial applications of GH2. In addition, the development of financing instruments for large-scale GH2 projects is planned.  

Last update: January 2022

Additional information