India Bets Big on Green Hydrogen «Budget 2023»- - National Hydrogen Mission.

Hydrogen fascinates me.

Hydrogen, the first element of periodic table, is a very strange element. Its properties are so diverse that even scientists are yet to classify its position in periodic table!

In its elemental form, it exists as dihydrogen (H₂). You'll be surprised to know that dihydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe (about 70% of total mass!) and is the principal element in the solar atmosphere. However, it is much less abundant in Earth's atmosphere. 

In this blog, we shall throw light at the fact that huge global concerns related to energy, sustainability, climate change and population boom can be overcome to a great extent by the use of hydrogen as a source of energy.

Budget 2023 - India Bets Big on Green Hydrogen.

Budget 2023 gave a fresh thrust to India’s transition to clean energy. “Rs 35,000 crore in priority capital investment towards energy transition and achieving India's goal of net zero carbon emission by 2070,” announced finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. An additional Rs 19,700 crore was sanctioned towards the government's National Green Hydrogen Mission.

Undet the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India plans to increase its annual green hydrogen production to 5 million tonnes by 2030, reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports and cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50 million tonnes. The eventual goal, though, is to turn the country into a hub for green hydrogen production to meet global renewable energy demands.

So, what is green hydrogen, and why is there so much hype about it lately? Let us unpack the term as well as its implications for India.

Why this move by Govt?

We need an increasing amount of watts to function every day. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global energy demand is expected to rise by 1.3 per cent each year till 2040. India will contribute 25 per cent of this demand. In such a scenario, if a country is dependent on coal and oil, it would only exacerbate climate change. It would also make it difficult to turn net zero.

Types of Hydrogen according to their  usage context:-

Hydrogen has a long relationship with industry. It is already used for refining petroleum, treating metals, steel manufacturing, producing fertiliser, and processing foods. Global demand for hydrogen reached 94 million tonnes in 2021, as per the IEA.

But not all types of hydrogen are created equally. Despite being colourless, it is labelled in a variety of colours, each representing a method of production, and it has its own emission output. The three main ones are:

Grey: Produced by combustion of natural gas. This method emits CO2 into the atmosphere, though it is less than what is emitted by black or brown hydrogen which is dependent on coal.

Blue: This low-carbon hydrogen is produced by splitting methane from natural gas. It can only be labelled clean if methane leaks are kept to near-zero levels and the carbon is captured and permanently stored underground.

Green: Emissions-free hydrogen that is produced using an electrolyser, which is powered by renewable energy.

Most experts agree that Green Hydrogen will be essential in meeting our resolution to boost development and progress along with keeping climate change in check, and not at environment's cost. 

It is 100% sustainable, storable and versatile (you can transform it into electricity or synthetic gas, and use it for commercial, industrial or mobility purposes). But it is also high cost, volatile and the production of green hydrogen requires more energy than other fuels.

In 2021, much of the increase in hydrogen demand was met by hydrogen produced by unabated fossil fuels, which means there was no benefit in mitigating climate change. But there are several low-carbon hydrogen projects being planned, some of which are at an advanced stage.

As per the IEA, if all these projects are brought online by 2030, low-carbon hydrogen capacity could reach 16-24 million tonnes annually, with green hydrogen from electrolysis accounting for 9-14 million tonnes and blue hydrogen accounting for between 7-10 million tonnes. Meeting governments’ climate pledges, however, would require 34 million tonnes of low-emission hydrogen production per year by 2030; a path compatible with reaching net zero emissions by 2050 globally would require around 100 million tonnes by 2030. The shortfall is significant.

Making the most

India hopes to address this gap. It has set a goal of becoming energy independent by 2047 and turning net zero by 2070. To get there, green hydrogen has a critical role to play. So the country is scaling up its renewable energy production capacity, and looking to capitalise on the opportunity to produce green hydrogen for the world.

The National Green Hydrogen Mission is one step in this direction. It intends to provide a thrust to the energy sector. While the goal is to facilitate deployment of the green hydrogen ecosystem and create opportunities for innovation and investments across the value chain, it will also translate into investments, jobs and economic growth.

It could set India on a path of sustainable development, and accelerate green growth. It’s why there is so much focus on it.

The Crucial Role of Green Hydrogen in India's Clean Energy Transistion

This segment of our blog contains direct insights of R.A. Mashelkar, a former member of the Scientific Advisory Council to Prime Minister and is one of the best in the business. Currently he is the chairman of Reliance's New Energy Council.

Q:- Why is green hydrogen important and

why is it a must for a country like

India?

A:-

Oh it's very very important and i'll give you atleast three reasons.

 The first is

we import 160 billion dollar worth of energy,

all right, we have to reduce that import bill.

The second is that we are world's third largest 

carbon footprint creator because we emit

something like 3.6 gigatons of carbon

dioxide so we have to bring that down

and also there is this particular

aspiration of creating 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030

within next nine years and there again

green hydrogen will play a very very

critical role.

Q:- Right. You know 'Green hydrogen' the sound

of it, maybe for historical reasons,

sounds dangerous. Is that so?

A:-

Yes as  when you talk about hydrogen

you think of hydrogen bomb.

 It is nothing like that. Hydrogen is a fuel and therefore all the precautions that you normally take with any fuel will have to be taken but

hydrogen has some advantages.

 For example, hydrogen is not toxic at all.

Secondly hydrogen is very light it is

one of the lightest elements,

so even if there is a release it just

diffuses away, disperses away.

The other thing is that there has been a

lot number of years of industrial

practice for hydrogen safety and also fuel cells

have been running, for example, for

more than a decad and therefore there

are safety protocols that have been

developed so i wouldn't worry about the

hydrogen safety as long as the protocols

are followed and on a lighter note i

don't mind saying that while you and i

were young we did have the hydrogen balloons and we have handled hydrogen right so it is

safe!

Conclusion

All in all, in the next 10-15 years down the line, youths need to spearhead this initiative and manifest India's energy dreams to its fullest extent.

This will only be possible if we develop visionary mindset, entrepreneurial approach and making big moves in life. We need Make in India. But more than that, we need Invent in India.

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.