Brazil could solve a German energy problem - but there is still a lot to do

Created: 08/11/2022, 12:42 p.m

By: Lisa Kuner

Germany will continue to be dependent on energy from abroad in the future.

In the medium term, however, no more fossil fuels should be imported.

Brazil could help with hydrogen. 

Ceará/Brazil - Lots of space, lots of sun and lots of wind - the north-east of Brazil meets numerous requirements for the expansion of renewable energies.

Various local actors now see this as a great opportunity: not only to decarbonize the domestic economy, but also to produce green hydrogen for export - especially to Europe.

There is currently a lot of discussion in Germany about how quickly dependence on Russian gas can be reduced.

One step could be to accelerate the energy transition and the phase-out of fossil fuels.

However, it is undisputed that Germany will not be able to do without energy from abroad in the medium term.

Instead of fossil fuels such as gas, sustainable energy storage should be imported in the future.

An important building block is green hydrogen.

Sunset over a wind farm in Tramandai/Brazil: The Latin American country meets many requirements for the expansion of renewable energies.

© Fotoarena / Imago

Energy crisis in Germany: Areas of application for green hydrogen

On the one hand, hydrogen is important for the energy transition because it can serve as an intermediate storage facility for energy.

This means that green hydrogen can be used wherever regeneratively produced energy cannot be used directly.

In addition, hydrogen is a raw material for various chemical and industrial processes, for example for the production of ammonia.

In the cement industry, too, hydrogen should avoid process-related emissions in the long term.

Planning at the highest level: Last year, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection issued a declaration of intent to expand partnerships for green hydrogen:

Brazil: Great potential for green hydrogen

Ansgar Pinkowski, Head of Innovation and Sustainability at the Chamber of Commerce in Rio de Janeiro and Business Scout for Development, sees a great opportunity for Brazil in the production of green hydrogen.

"Green hydrogen is currently a huge topic for Brazil," he says to

.

“We have been working harder on this for 2.5 years now.”

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There is much to be said for boosting the production of green hydrogen in the Latin American country.

"In recent years, Brazil has created very good conditions for the expansion of wind and solar energy," he explains.

In addition, green hydrogen from Brazil would be comparatively cheap.

"Brazil is one of the countries where green hydrogen could be produced most cheaply in the world," he says.

This is also the result of a study by the management consultancy McKinsey, which analyzes the potential for hydrogen expansion in Brazil.

Brazil is one of the countries where green hydrogen could be produced most cheaply in the world.

Ansgar Pinkowski

In addition, the Latin American country is geographically quite favorable.

Europe, or more precisely Rotterdam, can be reached from the ports on Brazil's northern coast in just nine days by boat.

"The abundance of wind and sun, in combination with existing hydroelectric power plants, makes Brazil a possible key player for the production of renewable hydrogen," says Camilla Oliveira

.

She is a project manager at the think tank Agora Energiewende.

Green energy mix Brazil offers opportunities for Germany

Brazil is currently one of the countries with the most sustainable power supply in the world.

Around 78 percent of Brazil's electricity is generated from renewable energy sources, with two-thirds coming from hydroelectric power alone.

At the same time, however, energy consumption in Brazil is increasing and many branches of industry currently rely mainly on fossil fuels.

Here, too, the production of green hydrogen should help.

The fuel should not only make the European market more sustainable, according to Pinkowski from the Chamber of Foreign Trade, the greatest potential lies in decarbonizing Brazilian industry, for example by replacing fossil fuels in industrial processes.

Brazil also plans for hydrogen to play a bigger role in the transportation sector in the long term.

Around a quarter of the green hydrogen from Brazil could be exported internationally.

In the national hydrogen strategy of 2020, the German federal government is already planning to import hydrogen.

"For the federal government, Brazil is a strategic country for the import of green hydrogen," says Pinkowski.

Brazil is spraying more and more pesticides on its agricultural land.

Many additional toxins were approved under Jair Bolsonaro.

This has terrible consequences for health and nature. 

Brazil: More opportunities and economic growth

Under certain circumstances, green hydrogen could also find other applications.

"For Brazil, this also means an opportunity in the area of ​​ammonia," says Pinkowski from the Chamber of Foreign Trade.

Hydrogen is currently already being used there, but mostly so-called gray hydrogen, which is obtained from fossil fuels.

Ammonia has various fields of application, but it is also used, among other things, for the production of fertilizers.

Brazil is one of the largest consumers of fertilizers in the world.

So far, they have often been imported from Russia and Ukraine. By producing green hydrogen in its own country, Brazil could become much more independent of imports in this regard.

In Brazil, many hope that the production of green hydrogen will bring the country profits: "Green hydrogen could also contribute to economic growth in Brazil and with a sustainable product," says Pinkowski.

Precisely because the regions in north-eastern Brazil are rather poor, an industry that creates jobs could also have socially positive effects.

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Green hydrogen in other Latin American countries

However, Brazil is not the only country in Latin America that wants to focus heavily on the production of green hydrogen in the future.

Chile already presented a national strategy for using its hydrogen potential in 2020.

Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Colombia are also analyzing what role green hydrogen could play for them in the future.

The problem with green hydrogen?

So far it is still a dream of the future.

Many parts of the technology are not yet ready for the market.

How the highly flammable gas can be transported safely by ship from Latin America to Europe has not yet been decided.

Presumably, the hydrogen has to be converted for transport, for example into ammonia or methanol.

At the end, the whole thing would then have to be reversed in a reverse process.

Meanwhile, Australia is also positioning itself as a hydrogen exporter – it knows about the dangerous transport.

Green hydrogen as a way out of the energy crisis: problems and challenges

In addition, green hydrogen is currently much more expensive than other energy sources.

It is therefore not (yet) worthwhile to produce it economically.

Development is also sluggish in Brazil.

According to Pinkowski, while many different actors are interested in building up hydrogen production, so far this has led to few concrete results.

"Currently, the development in Brazil is stuck in a kind of bottleneck, since the customer side still has to be developed nationally and internationally," explains Pinkowski.

color theory of hydrogen

Green hydrogen

is produced by electrolysis of electricity from renewable energies.

Therefore it is climate neutral.

In contrast,

is obtained from fossil fuels.

is produced like gray, but some of the CO2 that is produced is stored underground using so-called carbon capture and storage technologies.

In addition, one still speaks of

.

During its production, solid carbon is produced instead of gaseous CO2.

However, the technology for this is still under development.

From the point of view of the German federal government, only green hydrogen is sustainable.

Germany wants to promote this development worldwide and has developed the H2Global initiative for this purpose, which is intended to boost the purchase of green hydrogen.

"The German government compensates for the difference between the supply and demand prices for products made from renewable hydrogen," says Oliveira from Agora Energiewende.

This is why no green hydrogen is currently being produced in Brazil, but the first pilot projects should be started soon.