EnergyproposedMedium TermScience, Technology and Innovation

Green Hydrogen R&D and Demonstration Programme

Theme: green_energy_technology

First raisedSept 2025Last discussedSept 2025

Generate Brief Compare Feasibility Matrix

Assessment

Growth Impact4/5

Feasibility3/5

Responsible: Department of Science, Innovation and Technology / CSIR / HySA

Feasibility Assessment

Long-term horizon. JETP partnership funding de-risks demonstration investment. R&D base (HySA) is established. Key risk is electrolyser import dependency until local manufacturing develops.

Stakeholder Landscape

Who backs this reform, who needs convincing, and which interests or red lines shape political feasibility.

Reviewer

Open review workspace

Backers

2 stakeholders

Negotiation weight

0 conditional actors

Opposition weight

0 opposing actors

Review coverage

0/2

All mapped stance notes are still draft

Provenance warning

Every mapped stakeholder stance for this idea is still draft. The coalition score is directional only until at least the high-influence actors are reviewed.

Coalition Read

100/100Coalition-ready

Anchor: Presidency / Operation Vulindlela.

Political Tractability

—Needs reviewed signals

No reviewed signals · 0% of mapped influence has been reviewed.

Backers2 stakeholders

Presidency / Operation VulindlelaCoalition anchordraftInfluence 10/10

Green hydrogen R&D aligns with the Presidency's hydrogen economy strategy leveraging SA's renewable and PGM endowments.

Interest: Cross-cutting structural reform coordination across energy, logistics, water, digital infrastructure, and visa reform. Operation Vulindlela, establish…

Concern: Implementation bottlenecks within line departments; regulatory capture of NERSA and ICASA; SOE institutional inertia; ensuring quick wins translate in…

Engagement path: Already fully engaged. Seeks line department buy-in, NEDLAC social compact legitimacy, and international DFI financing alignment on key reform milesto…

DTIC (Dept. of Trade, Industry & Competition)Operational backerdraftInfluence 7/10

DTIC supports hydrogen R&D as it builds the industrial base for SA's green hydrogen export ambitions.

Interest: Industrial policy objectives — local content requirements, beneficiation, BBBEE transformation, SEZ development, and protection of manufacturing emplo…

Concern: Full logistics liberalisation without local content protections could hollow out domestic manufacturing by reducing input costs asymmetrically for ext…

Engagement path: Logistics and energy reforms include localisation provisions and domestic content requirements; trade agreements include industrial policy safeguards;…

Description

South Africa's Hydrogen Society Roadmap (2021) identified green hydrogen — produced via electrolysis using renewable electricity — as a strategic export opportunity and domestic decarbonisation tool, leveraging the country's exceptional solar and wind resources and PGM-based electrolyser catalyst reserves. The DSIT-led R&D and demonstration programme funds pilot electrolysis projects, green ammonia feasibility studies, and fuel cell bus deployments in partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation and CSIR. The Boegoebaai green hydrogen export hub in the Northern Cape is the flagship project, targeting export to European markets under the EU's RFNBO regulations. As of early 2026, R&D funding has been allocated and the Boegoebaai feasibility study is complete; commercial investment decisions depend on electrolyser cost trajectories, offtake agreements with EU importers, and Transnet port infrastructure development at Boegoebaai.

OECD

Referenced in OECD Economic Surveys: South Africa

OECD SA Survey (2017, 2020, 2022, 2025). The 2025 survey calls for boosting public investment especially in electricity, water and rail.

South Africa's HySA programme produces world-class PGM catalyst research but lacks the demonstration infrastructure to attract commercial investors—R1 billion in demonstration plants would unlock R30 billion in private hydrogen investment. — DSIT HySA Programme Review, 2024