INDIA’S NATIONAL HYDROGEN ENERGY MISSION

The National Hydrogen Energy Mission was announced in the Union Budget 2021 by Finance Minister, who said it will be launched in 2021-22. India has set ambitious targets in the renewable energy sector and the push for hydrogen energy will help steer the country in the right direction in this respect. On India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the National Hydrogen Mission (NHM). He said that his government’s aim is to make India a global hub for the production and export of green hydrogen. Increasing concerns over the issue of climate change in the energy arena may become driving efforts by nations to induct hydrogen to achieve the target of becoming a low-carbon economy. “The enthusiasm about hydrogen has a simple reason: Whether It’s used in a fuel cell or burned to create heat, Wherever”, Pradhan had said.

TYPES OF HYDROGEN 

Hydrogen is the lightest and first element on the periodic table. Since the weight of hydrogen is less than air it rises in the atmosphere and is therefore rarely found in its pure form, H2. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a non-toxic, nonmetallic odorless, tasteless, colorless, and highly combustible diatomic gas. It is a zero-emission fuel burned with oxygen. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. It is also used as fuel for spacecraft propulsion. 

Grey Hydrogen:- It releases a lot of Co2 emissions as it is extracted through the burning of fossil fuels. Currently, this is the most common form of hydrogen production. Grey hydrogen is created from natural gas or methane, using steam. 

Blue Hydrogen:-This is the name given to the hydrogen when Co2 given out during its production is locked up through carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes ‘Grey’ hydrogen becomes ‘blue’ hydrogen. However, even in this process, about 10-20% of the carbon dioxide generated cannot be captured.

Green Hydrogen:- It is produced from renewable resources of energy and not fossil fuels. The by-products are water and water vapor. The Indian government is aiming to produce ‘green’ hydrogen which mostly produces from clean energy sources like renewables. The ‘green’ hydrogen is released via the electrolysis of energy from renewable sources. The hydrogen produced from this method gives rise to no Co2 emission, is expensive, and is not commercially viable yet.

STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT

The central government is considering using 2000 megawatts of solar and wind power capacity for the purpose of producing hydrogen. Already the ‘National Hydrogen Energy Mission‘ is in the works in order to build a value chain for the chemical element in the country and also to reduce its production costs. Senior program leader at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) told the Finance Express, “We should be looking at niche applications such as sustainable aviation fuels from green hydrogen where the market, mostly international, is able to absorb the premium costs. Indian state-controlled refiner IOC will build its first commercial green hydrogen plant at the 160,000 bpd Mathura refinery in North India, as part of its plans to diversify to petrochemicals, hydrogen, and battery technology. Indian state-controlled utility NTPC is setting up India’s largest solarINDIApark of 4.75 GW at Rann of Kutch in Gujarat state to produce green hydrogen. NTPC also won a bid to set up a 325MW of solar capacity at Shajapur solar park in Madhya Pradesh state. Tariffs of ₹2.35/kWh for 105 MW and ₹2.33/kWh for another 220 MW are cheaper than many coal-fired power plants. Two hydrogen refueling stations have been established (one each at the Indian Oil R&D Centre, Faridabad, and the National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram). The Delhi Chief Minister had said that 50 buses have been rolled out as part of a pilot project in Delhi that use blended hydrogen in compressed natural gas (CNG) with plans to scale it up in the coming months across the country.

CHALLENGES

For transportation, the overarching technical challenge for hydrogen storage is how to store the amount of hydrogen required for a conventional driving range (>300 miles) within the vehicular constraints of weight, volume, efficiency, safety, and cost. Durability over the performance lifetime of these systems must also be verified and validated, and acceptable refueling times must be achieved. Requirements for off-board bulk storage are generally less restrictive than an onboard requirement; for example, there may be no or less restrictive weight requirement, but there may be a volume or “footprint” requirement. One of the hydrogen properties is that it has a lower density. In fact, it is a lot less dense than gasoline. This means that it has to be compressed to a liquid state and stored the same way at lower temperatures to guarantee its effectiveness and efficiency as an energy source. This reason also explains why hydrogen at all times is stored and transported under high pressure, which is why transportation and common use are far from feasible. 

THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL HYDROGEN ENERGY IN INDIA

In the future, hydrogen will join electricity as an important energy carrier, since it can be made safely from renewable energy sources and is virtually non-polluting. It will also be used as a fuel for ‘zero emission’ vehicles, to heat homes and offices, to fuel aircraft, etc. Hydrogen is useful as an energy source/fuel because it has a high energy content per unit of weight, which is why it is used as a rocket fuel and in fuel cells to produce electricity on some spacecraft. Hydrogen is not widely used as a fuel now but it has the potential for greater use in the future. The mission aims to aid the government in meeting its climate targets and making India a green hydrogen hub. The center has committed ₹800 crores between 2021 to 24 towards pilot projects R&D and projects to bring down the cost of hydrogen production and push India towards a hydrogen future. India’s ambitious goal of 175GW by 2022 got an impetus in the 2021-22 budget in which ₹1500 crore for renewable energy development was allotted.   

CONCLUSION

• At this juncture, with a calibrated approach, India can uniquely position itself to take advantage of increasing investments in R&D, capacity building, compatible legislation, and the opportunity for the creation of demand among its vast population. Such initiatives can propel India by exporting hydrogen to its neighbors and beyond.