Acsa: How decarbonising aviation can drive a sustainable future

By Riaaz Essack

As international air journey surges, the aviation sector finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. Aviation presently contributes roughly 3% of worldwide carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, underscoring the urgency to handle local weather change. Stakeholders throughout the aviation worth chain are racing to cut back carbon footprints, but a very complete decarbonisation technique should lengthen past the airport’s perimeter for significant societal change.

At the moment, international CO₂ emissions exceed 37 billion metric tonnes yearly, with South Africa ranked eleventh in per capita emissions at 5.65 tonnes per individual. That is primarily pushed by the nation’s reliance on coal for power, which powers roughly 85% of our era and transportation. The Paris Settlement’s 2030 targets name for decreasing the worldwide common CO₂ footprint to 2.3 tonnes per individual, making South Africa’s power transition a crucial precedence.

The shift is feasible. South Africa can transition from coal to renewable power sources, supported by frameworks such because the Nationwide Environmental Administration Act (NEMA), which recognises the rights of individuals, but in addition emphasises financial improvement. Alternatives to faucet alternate sources of native power can’t be stopped by the feelings of few. We should recognise the influence power has on enhancing the standard of life and its job creation potential.

The US gives a compelling instance—as soon as closely depending on coal, it considerably diminished its carbon footprint to 2.76 tonnes per individual inside a decade by investing in shale fuel, various power sources, and federal incentives. This demonstrates that daring coverage and innovation can drive significant environmental change.

The US federal authorities’s strategic involvement in know-how set the stage for the shale fuel revolution, and South Africa’s Hydrogen Roadmap (HySA), led by the Division of Science and Innovation (DSI), presents an identical method. Airports Firm South Africa (Acsa) is leveraging its partnership with DSI to utilise hydrogen know-how with out the prohibitive set-up prices related to pilot and demonstration services.

Decarbonising aviation, nonetheless, includes greater than plane design or various fuels – it requires a complete method to the whole lifecycle of aviation emissions. From infrastructure upkeep to passenger floor transportation, each facet of air journey contributes to its carbon footprint. Airports, as hubs of transportation and commerce, are uniquely positioned to guide this transformation.

In 2023, Airports Council Worldwide (ACI) launched the “Airports of Tomorrow” initiative to handle the power, infrastructure, and financing wants of airports over the subsequent few a long time. In sensible phrases, it signifies that airports will migrate to renewable and/or cleaner power and play the position of an power hub. Past power for its infrastructure, operations, and plane, airports will provide power choices to passengers and people who hook up with its intermodal transport system.

With Airbus set to launch a hydrogen-powered industrial jet by 2035, airports should start getting ready for the influence. For Acsa, readiness goes past merely piloting hydrogen applied sciences to tell infrastructure design. Whereas hydrogen-powered floor transport, gasoline networks, and stationary gasoline cells are already confirmed, the actual problem lies in adapting the airport’s working mannequin to accommodate a brand new power supply.

This transition calls for a holistic method that encompasses individuals, infrastructure, and regulation. The primary precedence is updating civil aviation rules to make sure the protected integration of hydrogen at airports. This contains educating and interesting key stakeholders – airways, regulators, airport tenants, native authorities, insurers, and workers – on the potential and security of hydrogen know-how. Moreover, the shift would require a re-evaluation of airport catastrophe administration methods, as hydrogen-powered plane and storage services will introduce new security protocols.

On the infrastructure aspect, Acsa is already planning for the mixing of hydrogen into its airport design. This contains figuring out optimum places for hydrogen and jet gasoline services, implementing safety measures, and making certain emergency preparedness. Given the +30-year master-planning and bulk providers timelines for airport improvement, these issues should function together with evolving passenger preferences and regulatory expectations.

A significant problem on this power transition is mitigating the dangers related to new know-how adoption. If hydrogen know-how inception at airports is incorrectly timed and/or experiences main setbacks, the airport infrastructure improvement programme could be compromised. Acsa has, past personal use, additionally positioned itself to supply, retailer, and distribute hydrogen. The airport being a part of an intermodal transport answer reduces the set-up prices for hydrogen transport. Hydrogen supply price, pushed by densification and transportation, can represent as a lot as 35% of the landed price. At O.R. Tambo Worldwide, leveraging the present jet gasoline rail-siding will considerably cut back this price. This method reduces monetary danger of abortive funding and gives flexibility in response to the evolving power panorama.

Moreover, Acsa is investigating how hydrogen manufacturing can handle native water shortage points, a crucial problem in South Africa. Whereas desalination is commonly prioritised, reusing wastewater for hydrogen manufacturing presents an alternate answer. Airports generate wastewater, and ACSA’s funding in hydrogen manufacturing gives a possibility for water reuse and releasing up water processing capability at native municipalities.

Inexperienced hydrogen is enticing as a result of it’s created from water and makes use of a renewable supply of power. The recurring query, nonetheless, is: At what price? Happily, there isn’t a dominant design for hydrogen manufacturing outdoors of petrochemicals, the place the selection is reforming. There are a minimum of half a dozen industrial routes to supply hydrogen with no CO₂ emission to ambiance, with price various from $2/kg to $9.5/kg at 30-bar and 99% purity. If the commercialisation of cheaper electrolyser know-how goes past 2030, the fall-back place is a low carbon supply for hydrogen. This may also make a big optimistic influence to decarbonisation.

Whereas hydrogen is a promising gasoline, Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs), a drop-in gasoline derived from renewable sources, is one other alternative to decarbonise aviation. At present US costs of round 5 instances the value of jet A1, a ten% dilution will increase ticket costs by round 15%. The sentiment of South African passengers is that such price have to be absorbed by the airline. The adoption of SAFs can’t be the issue of the airline alone; it requires a aggressive logistics from the producer to the plane, airports to play a task in aggregating demand in order that producers can manufacture at economies of scale, and regulatory our bodies that outline reasonable necessities. It’s solely by way of collaboration throughout the aviation community that SAFs can scale to satisfy the sector’s wants.

Acsa can also be exploring the potential of harnessing power from airport waste. Whereas many airports have fundamental recycling programmes, the subsequent frontier lies in utilizing anaerobic digestion to transform meals waste, sewage, and sludge into biogas. This know-how has confirmed efficient in producing power for heating and producing nutrient-rich fertiliser, additional aligning airport operations with sustainability targets.

A hydrogen-powered airport with in-house waste administration brings the chance to display city dwelling by way of micro-grids for balancing power demand. In contrast to coal and fewer for pure gas-based energy, hydrogen energy doesn’t undergo from proximity to feedstock manufacturing for economies of scale. Electrolysers are modular, making deployment on an as-needed foundation.

At O.R. Tambo Worldwide, we’ve some 1800 tenants that kind the airport metropolis. This provides the potential to additionally blueprint city dwelling in a group two instances the scale of section considered one of Waterfall Property in Midrand. The present airport’s actions of actual property administration; services and vegetation administration; gasoline provide; utility demand administration; safety; and web site administration are analogous to actions to maintain a suburb operational.

As we glance forward, aviation’s decarbonisation journey isn’t just about decreasing emissions – it’s about reworking airports into sustainable, energy-efficient hubs that additionally help broader environmental, city planning, and financial targets. Airports, notably in rising markets like South Africa, have the chance to guide this transformation, not solely inside the aviation sector however throughout the worldwide infrastructure panorama.

Acsa’s imaginative and prescient extends past air journey. By integrating applied sciences and sustainability practices, we’re positioning ourselves as a worldwide associate in shaping the airports of tomorrow. We aren’t simply contributing to the way forward for aviation – we’re contributing to the way forward for how we’ll stay.