Getting the best deal: Agora tool calculates global opportunities for Power-to-X trade
Trade in renewable energy is poised to gain a global dimension as countries with abundant wind and solar potential look for opportunities to make and sell green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol. An Agora Industry tool launched last year to calculate the economic potential for these and other Power-to-X (PtX) products has now been updated to provide more accurate results and in-depth insights for three promising green energy hubs.
Renewable hydrogen can play a key role in the effort to ditch fossil fuels and achieve net-zero emissions across the global economy. Industrialised nations that can’t meet all of their own energy needs from renewable sources will likely have to import green hydrogen and related products. Meanwhile, countries and regions with high renewable energy potential that could be used for H2 production stand to become key players in the PtX economy.
This future PtX trade can provide a particular opportunity for countries seeking to boost their socio-economic development. Historically, attracting foreign investment to unlock their renewable energy potential has been challenging due to the high capital expenditure required. However, PtX production could help mobilise funding for renewable energy (solar PV and wind), transmission infrastructure, desalination plants, pipelines and ports. For those countries aiming to decarbonise existing industries, green hydrogen also offers the chance to develop value chains for climate-friendly and high-value products such as direct reduced iron (DRI). This not only supports their just transition away from fossil fuel-dependent sectors by creating green employment opportunities, but also accelerates the global decarbonisation of industrial value chains.
Agora Industry’s Business Opportunity Analyser, developed in collaboration with the Öko-Institute, was launched in 2023 with the goal of highlighting the trade potential for green ammonia, e-methanol and synthetic fuels . Published following comprehensive stakeholder engagement, it provided users with a means of calculating the delivered cost of green molecules from export to import nations. In doing so, it produced a detailed cost breakdown comparison highlighting the competitive edge of one country against another.
This tool has now been redesigned as a web application offering the same functions but in a way that is more intuitive, convenient and flexible. The update also implements an optimisation methodology to increase the accuracy of the cost calculations and load factors of individual system components. Importantly, the latest version now allows users to see regional differences within three selected countries of the PtX hub: Morocco, Argentina and South Africa.
With this "pre-feasibility" level information users will be able to identify countries and regions that have promising business opportunities in the PtX value chain. The tool comes with a default dataset for all included countries, but users can also manually adjust all relevant variables to accommodate local inputs. Moreover, the tool connects the techno-economic analysis with relevant information on certification schemes and sustainability issues
Try out the Business Opportunity Analyser by following the link below.
