Context: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, India has said that India will emerge as the leader of green hydrogen by taking advantage of the current energy crisis across the globe.

Hydrogen

• Hydrogen is the lightest, simplest and most abundant member of the family of chemical elements in the universe.
• It is colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic and highly combustible gaseous substance.

Green hydrogen

• Green hydrogen is the one produced with no harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
• It is made by using clean electricity from surplus renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to electrolyse water.
• Electrolysers use an electrochemical reaction to split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, emitting zero-carbon dioxide in the process.
• Green hydrogen currently makes up a small percentage of the overall hydrogen, because production is expensive.

National Hydrogen Mission

• The mission mainly focusses on generation of hydrogen from green power resources.

Objectives

• Propose a framework for inter alia creating demand for Green Hydrogen in sectors such as petroleum refining and fertilizer production
• Support for indigenous manufacturing of critical technologies
• Research & Development activities
• An enabling policy and regulatory framework.

Why is India pursuing green hydrogen?

• Under the Paris Agreement, India is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 33-35% from the 2005 levels. At the 2021 Conference of Parties in Glasgow, India reiterated its commitment to move from a fossil and import-dependent economy to a net-zero economy by 2070.
• To fulfil those commitments, India launched the National Hydrogen Mission in 2021. The mission aims to cut down carbon emissions and increase the use of renewable sources of energy.

How much green hydrogen is India producing?

• India has just begun to generate green hydrogen with the objective of raising non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. 
• India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen plant in eastern Assam’s Jorhat unit has an installed capacity to produce 10 kg of hydrogen per day and scale it up to 30 kg per day.
• Indian Railway have invited bids for the country’s first hydrogen fuel cell-based technology by retrofitting on the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU).
• Sentient Labs has launched India’s first indigenously developed and manufactured hydrogen fuel cell bus.  

What are the advantages of hydrogen as a fuel?

• a) Green hydrogen can be stored for long periods of time, 
• b) The stored hydrogen can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells. In a fuel cell, hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen to produce electricity and water vapour. Hydrogen, thus, can act as an energy storage device and contribute to grid stability.
• c) The oxygen, produced as a by-product (8 kg of oxygen is produced per 1 kg of hydrogen), can also be monetised by using it for industrial and medical applications or for enriching the environment.

Road Ahead

• Green hydrogen is regarded as the “fuel of the future” and various initiatives undertaken by India to increase its capabilities in green hydrogen production are laudable because it helps unlock new opportunities as green hydrogen is considered an emerging market by renewable energy developers.

By: Shubham Tiwari