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Synopsis: Green hydrogen has the potential to alter the present fossil fuel dominated energy basket. Still, there are challenges for scaling this technology, that needs to be worked upon first.
Introduction
India, being the second most vulnerable country to climate change, is now leading the climate war with a clean molecule-green hydrogen.
COP-26 in Glasgow presents India with an opportunity to present its decarbonisation strategy based on renewable energy, storage and green hydrogen to the world.
India presently imports $160 billion worth of fossil fuel energy and is likely to double it in the next 15 years.
How can hydrogen help India?
Sectors that utilise solid and liquid fuels cannot be powered by electricity due to technical factors. Hydrogen will help India and the world to decarbonise sectors such as steel, copper, fertiliser, cement, oil refining and long distance transport.
Green hydrogen can help to build scale and export capabilities in high-value green products such as green steel, green ammonia and high-tech components.
| Must Read: Green Hydrogen: Potential, Issues and Solutions – Explained, pointwise |
What is the way forward for India?
Reduce costs – Power costs including generation and transmission contribute to more than 70% of green hydrogen cost.
Initiatives such as transmission and distribution waivers, surcharge waivers and low taxes/duties will help reduce green hydrogen costs by enabling the electrolysis facilities to be set up closer to demand centres.
Additional capacity -India must ensure that a large proportion of the upcoming new hydrogen capacity should be green in addition to mandating a fraction of existing capacities to go green.
Additional demand – Long distance transport sector can also provide additional demand in the form of hydrogen-derived ethanol or hydrogen fuel cells.
Export capabilities – Preparing sunrise sectors like green steel for green hydrogen is critical for creating vibrant clean export capabilities in India.
Innovation capabilities – As a nascent field, R&D investments become critical to the success of the Indian electrolyser industry, where the roles of venture capital and academia-industry partnerships are imperative.
Green ammonia synthesis – Scaling it in the Indian coast can be a historical opportunity to export energy. A well-designed alliance with Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan will enable win-win partnerships.
Source: This post is based on the articles“India’s Clean Molecule Bet” published in “Times of India” on 29th October 2021.
