Role of Hydrogen in India’s clean energy transition

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    In Context 

    This article highlights how Hydrogen could completely transform India’s energy ecosystem.

    About Hydrogen

    • Hydrogen is the lightest element. 
    • It is the simplest and smallest element in the periodic table. No matter how it is produced, it ends up with the same carbon-free molecule. 
      • However, the pathways to produce it are very diverse, and so are the emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).
    • At standard conditions, hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula H2. 
    • Properties 
      • It is colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic, and highly combustible. 
      • Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe, constituting roughly 75% of all normal matter.
      • Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel burned with oxygen. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. It is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion.
    • Different Types of Hydrogen 
      • Green hydrogen: It is defined as hydrogen produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. 
        • This is a very different pathway compared to both grey and blue.
      • Grey hydrogen: It is traditionally produced from methane (CH4), split with steam into CO2 – the main culprit for climate change – and H2, hydrogen. 
        • Grey hydrogen has increasingly been produced also from coal, with significantly higher CO2 emissions per unit of hydrogen produced, so much that is often called brown or black hydrogen instead of grey. 
      • Blue hydrogen 
        • It follows the same process as grey, with the additional technologies necessary to capture the CO2 produced when hydrogen is split from methane (or from coal) and stored for the long term. 
        • It is not one colour but rather a very broad gradation, as not 100% of the CO2 produced can be captured, and not all means of storing it are equally effective in the long term. 
        • The main point is that by capturing a large part of the CO2 , the climate impact of hydrogen production can be reduced significantly.

    Instances of Usage 

    • Globally
      • Hydrogen’s potential as a clean fuel source has a history spanning nearly 150 years.
        • In 1937, the German passenger airship LZ129 Hindenburg used hydrogen fuel to fly across the Atlantic.
        • In the late 1960s, hydrogen fuel cells helped power NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon.
        • South Korea and Japan are focused on moving their automotive markets to hydrogen, and the potential of the fuel cell.
          • In 2017, Japan formulated the Basic Hydrogen Strategy.
          • It sets out the country’s action plan by 2030, including the establishment of an international supply chain.
          • South Korea launched its Hydrogen Economy Development and Safe Management of Hydrogen Act, 2020.
    • Indian Scenario-
      • India’s hydrogen consumption was around 7 Mt in 2020 and according to TERI, it is anticipated to leapfrog to about 28 Mt in 2050. 
      • India would require a tentative capacity in the range of 192 GW to 224 GW of electrolysers by 2050, assuming all of it is green hydrogen. 
      • The global capacity of electrolysers has just crossed 300 MW in 2021.
        • This signifies that India itself would require an electrolyser capacity of 640 to 750 times the current global capacity, by 2050.
      • Delhi is the first Indian city to operate buses running on hydrogen spiked compressed natural gas (H-CNG).
    • H-CNG is 18% hydrogen in CNG, produced directly from natural gas, without resorting to conventional blending. 
    • NTPC Ltd is operating a pilot to run 10 hydrogen fuel cell-based electric buses and fuel cell electric cars in Leh and Delhi. 
      • It is also considering setting up a green hydrogen production facility in Andhra Pradesh. 
    • The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a notification proposing amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
      • It includes safety evaluation standards for hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles.
      • It will act as a supporting regulatory framework.

    Significance of Hydrogen for india’s  futuristic energy landscape

    • Multifaceted role
      • India’s per capita energy consumption is about one-third of the global average and one-twelfth of the U.S.
        • Hydrogen has a multifaceted role to play in the futuristic energy landscape, be it energy storage, long-haul transport, or decarbonisation of the industrial sector.
    • Great balancer
      • In the long run, two envisioned prominent fuels are hydrogen and electricity.
        • Both are energy vectors, hydrogen can be stored on a large scale and for a longer duration explicitly affirming its huge potential to become a great balancer to the ever-increasing supply of variable renewable energy. 
    • Support for India’s ambitious plan
      • It will complement and accelerate renewables into India’s clean energy transition, thereby supporting India’s ambitious plan to achieve 500 GW renewable capacity by 2030.
    • Decarbonisation
      • Hydrogen has a major role to play in the decarbonisation of India’s transport sector. 
      • In the industrial segment, hydrogen can decarbonise ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors such as iron and steel, aluminium, copper etc.
    •  Fulfils the three Es of India’s energy road map
      • Hydrogen fulfils the three Es of India’s energy road map — energy security, energy sustainability and energy access — and India should strive to seize one more E, viz. economic opportunity so that industry can be encouraged to its full potential.
      • It can help lay the foundation of a new India which aims to be a global climate leader
    • Transform India’s energy ecosystem
      • Hydrogen could completely transform India’s energy ecosystem by shifting its trajectory from an energy importer to a dominant exporter over the next few decades.
    • Achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal 
      • With hydrogen, India could lead the world in achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. 
      • In COP 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a clarion call of panchamrit (five goals), with an ambitious target to achieve Net Zero by 2070. 
        • Hydrogen will certainly play a decisive role in India’s Net Zero ambition and in making India ‘Atma Nirbhar in energy’.

    Challenges in harnessing Hydrogen Economy

    • Transportation of hydrogen: 
      • Hydrogen in gaseous form is highly inflammable and difficult to transport. Safety is seen as a concern
    • Difficulty in Detection  :
    • Hydrogen lacks smell, which makes any leak detection almost impossible thus increasing the potential dangers.
    • High R&D requirement
      • The commercial usage of hydrogen as a fuel and in industries requires mammoth investment in R&D of such technology and infrastructure for production, storage, transportation and demand creation for hydrogen.
    • Multiple regulatory authorities: 
      • Red tapism happens due to the involvement of multiple ministries and the lack of coordination between them.
    •  Russia-Ukraine crisis
      • The Russia-Ukraine crisis could pose a serious threat to our energy security, accentuating an unequivocal need to strive for energy independence. 
    • The high cost of hydrogen manufacturing and water scarcity could also pose a challenge. 

    Suggestions to devise strategy 

    • Demand side : 
      • A mandate should be given to mature industries such as refining and fertilisers, with adequate incentives to create an initial demand.
      • Industries manufacturing low emission hydrogen-based products inter alia green steel and green cement need to be incentivised by government policies. 
      • Blending hydrogen with natural gas can act as a big booster shot which can be facilitated by framing blending mandates, regulations and promoting H-CNG stations. 
      • Hydrogen fuel stations may be planned on dedicated corridors where long-distance trucking is widespread to promote FCEVs. 
      • The concept of carbon tariffs needs to be introduced on the lines of European countries.
    • Supply side
      • Investment in R&D should be accelerated to bring its cost at par with fossils. 
      • Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme with a target to produce 15 MMT of compressed biogas could be leveraged by exploring biogas conversion into hydrogen. 
      • A Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme may be introduced for hydrogen-based projects to commercialise and scale-up nascent technologies.
      •  Electrolyser manufacturing and hydrogen projects need to be brought under Priority Sector Lending (PSL) to secure affordable financing
      • The thrust should be on reducing the cost of electrolysers by implementing the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme as two dominant cost factors for green hydrogen are renewable energy tariffs & electrolyser costs.
    • Other ways 
      • On the transportation front, ammonia, having high energy density, could be promoted as a mode of transportation. 
        • A hydrogen transportation system could also be built on the foundation created for natural gas by using its existing infrastructure. 
      • Additionally, hydrogen transportation projects may be integrated with the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan.

    Hydrogen energy initiatives in India

    • India is already keen on developing a hydrogen economy owing to its favourable geographical conditions and presence of abundant natural elements.
    • National Hydrogen Mission (NHM) : The Union Budget for 2021-22 has announced a National Hydrogen Energy Mission (NHM) that will draw up a road map for using hydrogen as an energy source. The initiative has the potential of transforming transportation.
      • NHM initiative will capitalise on one of the most abundant elements on earth (Hydrogen) for a cleaner alternative fuel option.
      • It will have a specific strategy for the short term (4 years) and broad strokes principles for the long term (10 years and beyond). 
      • Aim: It aims to develop India into a global hub for manufacturing hydrogen and fuel cell technologies across the value chain. 
    • India is a part of the ‘Hydrogen Valley Platform’ that looks to create an integrated hydrogen ecosystem covering production, storage, distribution and end-use.
    • More recently, in 2016, MNRE published a report laying out a comprehensive plan for increasing R&D activity.
    • Green Hydrogen Policy
      • India’s Green Hydrogen Policy released in  February 2022 has addressed several critical challenges such as open access, waiver of inter-state transmission charges, banking, time-bound clearances, etc., and is expected to further boost India’s energy transition.

    Source:TH

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