Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh officially opened the three-day International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH-2023), which will be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, from July 5–7, 2023. Image Source: Press Information Bureau
Hydrogen can be consumed through either direct combustion, electricity generation through fuel cells, or industrial processes to be used as chemical feedstock. Direct use includes industrial processes in iron and steel plants and refineries; transportation fuel for light duty vehicles, buses, trucks, trains, and potentially shipping and aircrafts.
The capacity of renewable energy is expanding the fastest in India. India has also become one of the most alluring locations for renewable energy investments. The Indian government is aware of the crucial role that green hydrogen plays in the country's plans to achieve energy independence by 2047 and net zero by 2070. In order to make India a global hub for using, producing and exporting green hydrogen, the Government of India launched the National Green Hydrogen Mission on January 4, 2023.
In order to examine how we might create a Green Hydrogen ecosystem and foster a systemic approach for fulfilling the global targets for decarbonization through Green Hydrogen, the government has brought together stakeholders from India and all over the world. The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh officially opened the three-day International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH-2023), which will be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, from July 5–7, 2023. Leaders in science, politics, academia, and businesses from around the world will convene at the conference to talk about new developments and emerging technologies affecting the entire value chain for green hydrogen.
The conference is being organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi while speaking at the conference marked that India has advanced green hydrogen technologies significantly. The National Green Hydrogen Mission offers a road plan for advancing green hydrogen research, development, and application across numerous fields. In order to achieve our goal of a green and clean planet, international cooperation is essential, and the ICGH 2023 offers a forum for building such alliances.
According to the Minister of New and Renewable Energy, India has started to take the lead in adopting green hydrogen. According to him, plans have already been started for the establishment of 3.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen manufacturing capacity under the National Green Hydrogen Mission. "We are able to achieve this because we have established a vast, strong ecosystem for renewable energy, and we now have industries that are global leaders in the ecosystems for solar and wind energy. Nearly 25,000 MW of solar manufacturing capacity already exist, and another 40–50 GW are being built. We are going to emerge as the largest manufacturer of solar cells and modules outside of China.”
Source: NITI Aayog
Between 2010 and 2018, there was a 17 percent growth in the global demand for hydrogen, which is mostly utilised in refineries and to make ammonia. In 2050, hydrogen might meet 7 percent–18 percent of the world's final energy consumption thanks to the global push towards decarbonization, present policy momentum, and advancements in the economics and durability of end-use technologies like fuel cells.
As per the International Energy Agency, the need for hydrogen is anticipated to increase by 600 percent by the year 2050, according to Rameswar Teli, Union Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas. With an annual need of 6 million tonnes, he pointed out that India is one of the world's top users of green hydrogen. The Minister reported that different steps have been taken by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and oil and gas PSUs to promote green hydrogen. By 2024–2025, the oil and gas PSUs hope to reach a production capacity of 230 kilo tonnes annually. In addition, these PSUs have set a production target of 7 lakh tonnes of green hydrogen per annum by the year 2030. Oil India Limited has started a pilot plant in Jorhat, Assam which produces 10 kg of green hydrogen per day.
Prof. Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India said that the technology challenges identified in the draft report involve enhancement of efficiency, improving cost effectiveness, achieving scale, ensuring safety of green hydrogen technologies and integrating storage, transport and grid infrastructure. The Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership (SHIP), a Public Private Partnership structure with dedicated R&D funding and involvement from industry and government, is what the National Green Hydrogen Mission's R&D framework calls for. Building strategic foreign alliances and doing far-fetched research in ground-breaking fields would also be part of the agenda. To improve system affordability, effectiveness, safety, and dependability, efforts will be made to encourage innovation.
Source: NITI Aayog
Hydrogen can be consumed through either direct combustion, electricity generation through fuel cells, or industrial processes to be used as chemical feedstock. Direct use includes industrial processes in iron and steel plants and refineries; transportation fuel for light duty vehicles, buses, trucks, trains, and potentially shipping and aircrafts; and power sector storage and grid balancing and for co-firing in thermal power plants. Hydrogen is essential as a chemical feedstock for the production of ammonia (used in the fertilizer industry), methane, and methanol.
Though India is planning to maximise the production of green hydrogen, there are some issues which tend to create hurdles in the process. Today, the price of hydrogen produced by electrolysis ranges from about $7/kg to $4.10/kg, depending on the technology chosen and the related soft expenses. This makes it challenging to compete with the price of grey or brown hydrogen as it is currently. However, despite being a net importer of natural gas, India has some of the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) in the world for solar and wind power. It is more advantageous to increase green hydrogen production in India rather than grey or blue hydrogen production, given the promises of electrolyser cost and LCOE drop.
Therefore, with the sincere efforts taken by the government and significant contribution of private players and industry experts, India can definitely become one of the largest producers and exporters of the green hydrogen in the world.
