However, while the green hydrogen sector features prominently on political and strategic agendas, less than 1% of global hydrogen production in 2021 was based on low-emission technologies. This emergent sector offers great potential therefore in terms of decarbonization and will create fresh economic opportunities for stakeholders along its entire value chain.

Overall, there needs to be a swift, significant increase in renewable energy generation so that the surplus can be used to produce hydrogen. That goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of the hydrogen infrastructure (electrolyzers, storage, transportation and usage) and the development of new applications to drive demand.

A new study by Ferdinand Consultants for Germany’s National Metrology Institute, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), explains how quality infrastructure creates the basis for the development of the green hydrogen sector by reducing existing risks and supporting the positive sustainability impact of investments.

Quality infrastructure comprises the public bodies, private companies, regulatory and legal frameworks of the value chain. It relies on the components of metrology, standardization, testing, accreditation, conformity assessment, and market surveillance.

Robust, internationally recognized criteria and quality assurance mechanisms must be put in place to prevent technical barriers to trade, green washing and unintended negative sustainability or local economy impacts. This is especially relevant in Africa and Latin America, whose abundant renewable energy sources make them ideal green-hydrogen producers.

There are significant challenges to be addressed across a number of quality infrastructure services. For example, there is a need for clear, internationally recognized criteria for life-cycle assessments to estimate emissions releases and any negative environmental impacts. Another important area is the “guarantee of origin” required to differentiate green hydrogen from other hydrogen types.

The publication examines the existing gaps between the demand, both current and projected, and supply of quality infrastructure services. It also sets out key learnings to help policymakers and sector stakeholders effectively support quality infrastructure and foster the development of the green hydrogen industry.

Contact us for more information on our activities related to green hydrogen and quality infrastructure. 

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netpositive is a group of leading experts uniting strategic understanding, innovation and local know-how for real sustainability impact. We draw on over 15 years of experience in corporate sustainability strategies, development of renewable energy projects, financial and legal advisory, biodiversity, local sustainability initiatives and quality assurance.

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In many countries, the reputation of photovoltaic (PV) technology has suffered from negative experiences that occurred when safety, quality and sustainability aspects were not sufficiently addressed. Although PV is often perceived as easily deployable, special expertise is necessary throughout all phases of a PV project to ensure the correct functioning of the system and the long-term success of the project. The required know-how and experience can only be accumulated over time. In countries where PV development is comparatively recent, the sector finds itself at an early stage of the learning curve, and safety, quality and sustainability issues are more common. This is the case for many developing and emerging economies. Nevertheless, many of the challenges are also relevant in industrialized countries and need to be addressed to further develop the PV sector, such as:

• Installation faults, which are common worldwide due to unqualified personnel and lack of training. Such faults can cause serious defects in photovoltaic plants, impacting safety, performance, and financial returns.
• Quality gaps and low-quality imports in emerging and developing economies.
• Lack of reliable solar irradiation data required for successful plant planning.
• Water stress in arid zones due to the use of water to clean PV modules.
• High resource use and waste generation, especially as more systems reach their end-of-life stage.

Quality infrastructure is the system comprising the organizations (public and private) together with the policies, relevant legal and regulatory framework and practices needed to support and enhance the safety, quality and environmental soundness of goods, services and processes. The development of this system helps to overcome existing challenges and facilitate the wider use of PV energy.

Based on the unique experience gained in projects implemented by PTB in emerging and developing economies in Africa, Latin America and Asia, the study describes case studies and recommendations pertaining to the development of the quality infrastructure. It includes general recommendations, describes requirements for specific quality infrastructure services, and highlights aspects to be considered within specific national contexts.

The study shows that it is crucial – especially in developing and emerging economies – to support the national quality infrastructure alongside the development of the PV sector. By following the recommendations for action in this area, sector organisations, policymakers and quality infrastructure institutions can lay the foundations for the sustainable growth of this sector.

Download the pdf:  https://www.ptb.de/cms/fileadmin/internet/fachabteilungen/abteilung_9/9.3_internationale_zusammenarbeit/publikationen/Studies/PTB_study_QI_for_PV_EN.pdf

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 106 countries held renewable energy auctions by the end of 2018. One third of the 55 countries that held renewable auctions in 2017 and 2018 did so for the first time. An earlier study of nearly 100 solar projects in different countries had however found widespread problems: nearly 30 percent of the analysed projects had severe deficiencies that impacted performance. This makes investment in solar plants in newcomer countries risky, hindering the development of the solar sector and undermining efforts to achieve solar energy deployment targets in the affected countries.

In the Policy Brief “Technical requirements in public auctions to make solar plants shine”, the authors synthesise key lessons from international experiences with technical requirements in solar PV auctions and make three recommendations:

1) Define technical requirements in line with national solar policy objectives
The specific country context and policy objectives for the development of the solar PV sector play an important role when devising a strategy for the introduction of technical requirements in auctions. In particular, the state of the national Quality Infrastructure system should be taken into account, ensuring that local project developers can access the services needed to fulfil the technical requirements.

2) Promote the use of international quality standards
Clear and accessible communication of technical requirements is key to increasing quality and ensuring compliance with standards in the solar sector. Highlighting their links to policy objectives can foster concerted work towards a common mission, while effective incentives should be used for the PV industry to adapt to new quality requirements.

3) Monitor compliance with international quality standards
Public authorities should monitor compliance with the quality standards required in the tender documents. Proof of compliance can be guaranteed through in-person inspections at the plant commissioning stage as well as remote, digital monitoring of real-time generation data once the power plant is in operation. This also allows for the impact of quality standards on the plant performance to be evaluated.

Link:
Technical requirements in public auctions to make solar plants shine