News Highlight
At COP 27, India announced its long-term strategy to transition to a “low emissions” pathway by expanding its nuclear power capacity, producing green hydrogen, and increasing the proportion of ethanol in petrol.
Key Takeaway
- The Environment Minister said these steps were consonant with India’s “fivedecade journey” to net zero or carbon neutral by 2070.
- India “aspires” to maximise the use of electric vehicles, with ethanol blending to reach 20% by 2025.
- India’s forest and tree cover is a net carbon sink absorbing 15% of carbon dioxide emissions in 2016, and the country is on track to fulfilling its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commitment of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of additional carbon sequestration in forest and tree cover by 2030.
Green Hydrogen
- Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis (which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen) using renewable energy sources such as solar, wind or hydel power.
- It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic and highly combustible gaseous substance.
Other types of Hydrogen
- Grey hydrogen
- It is generated through fossil fuels such as coal and gas.
- Blue hydrogen
- It is produced using electricity generated by burning fossil fuels but with technologies to prevent the carbon released from entering the atmosphere.
- Pink Hydrogen
- It is produced using electrolysis powered by nuclear energy.
Benefits
- Clean energy
- Green hydrogen can drive India’s transition to clean energy and combat climate change.
- Economic benefits
- The adoption of green hydrogen will reduce import dependency on fossil fuels.
- Stored for a long period
- Green hydrogen can be stored for long periods. The stored hydrogen can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells.
- Environmentally friendly byproduct
- Energy can be extracted from hydrogen through combustion or fuel cells, emitting only water as a by-product.
- Efficient fuel
- Green hydrogen produces three times more energy than other fossil fuels.
- Reduced Dependence on Rare Minerals
- Green Hydrogen also holds the key to clean electric mobility that doesn’t depend on rare minerals.
- Green Hydrogen helps achieve a long-term vision of reduced dependency on minerals and rare-earth element-based batteries as energy storage.
Challenges
- Economic Sustainability
- One of the biggest challenges the industry faces in using hydrogen commercially is the economic sustainability of extracting green hydrogen.
- For transportation fuel cells, hydrogen must be cost-competitive with conventional fuels and technologies per mile.
- Lack of Supporting Infrastructure
- Fuel cells which convert hydrogen fuel to usable energy for cars are still expensive.
- The hydrogen station infrastructure needed to refuel hydrogen fuel cell cars needs to be developed more.
- Transportation cost
- Most low-cost renewable energy resources are located far from potential demand centres. As a result, the cost of transportation from the plant to the demand centre rises.
- Low production of Electrolysers
- There is currently no major Indian manufacturer of Electrolysers (which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen). As a result, India is reportedly importing electrolysers, which makes the cost uneconomical.
Government initiatives
- National Hydrogen Energy Mission
- 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.
- It aims to develop India into a global hub for manufacturing hydrogen and fuel cell technologies across the value chain.
- The green hydrogen pilot plant
- India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen pilot plant was set up in eastern Assam’s Duliajan at the petroleum exploration major’s Jorhat pump station.
Way forward
- National target
- Set a national target for green hydrogen and electrolyser capacity.
- A phased manufacturing programme should be used to build India’s vibrant hydrogen products export industry.
- Decentralised Production
- Decentralised hydrogen production must be promoted through open access to renewable power to an electrolyser.
- Participation in the private sector
- The government should ensure participation in the private sector by setting an adequate environment.
- Providing Finance
- Policymakers must facilitate investments in early-stage piloting and the research and development needed to advance the technology in India.
- Investment for R&D
- Investment in R&D on green Hydrogen technology is required. The green hydrogen processing technology is still in its early stages, requiring extensive research and development to advance.
“Panchamrit”
- The Union Cabinet recently approved an update to India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
- These are called five commitments or Panchamrit; they are
- Increase the non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW (gigawatts) by 2030.
- Meet 50% of India’s energy requirements from “renewable energy” by 2030.
- Reduce the projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now until 2030.
- Reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45%.
- Achieve the target of “net zero” by the year 2070.
Content Source: The Hindu