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Green Hydrogen                                                                                                               

21st January, 2022

                                                                    

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Context: India & Denmark agreed to initiate joint research and development on green fuels including green hydrogen, during the Joint S&T Committee meeting.

 

Key highlights of the Joint Committee:

  • It emphasized on development of bilateral collaboration on mission-driven research, innovation, and technology development, including climate and green transition, energy, water, waste, food and so on.
  • Green Strategic Partnership – Action Plan 2020-2025

 

About Hydrogen

  • There are no natural hydrogen deposits on earth, it has to be extracted from other compounds by a chemical process.
  • The vast majority of industrial hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas through a process known as steam methane reforming or SMR.
  • Producing hydrogen in this way is sometimes referred to as brown or grey or even blue hydrogen.

 

Types of Hydrogen:

  • Brown Hydrogen: most of the gas that is already widely used as an industrial chemical is either brown, if it's made through the gasification of coal or lignite
  • Grey Hydrogen: if it is made through steam methane reformation, which typically uses natural gas as the feedstock. Neither of these processes is exactly carbon-friendly.
  • Blue Hydorgen: where the gas is produced by steam methane reformation but the emissions are curtailed using carbon capture and storage. 
  • Green Hydrogen: Green hydrogen, in contrast, could almost eliminate emissions by using renewable energy — increasingly abundant and often generated at less-than-ideal times — to power the electrolysis of water.

Green hydrogen current status

  • At present, less than 1 per cent of hydrogen produced is green hydrogen, according to IRENA's World Energy Transitions Outlook.
  • India consumes about six million tonnes of hydrogen every year. This could increase to 28 million tonnes by 2050.
  • India has favorable geographic location and abundance of sunlight and wind for the production of green hydrogen.
  • India will become a net exporter of green hydrogen by 2030 due to its cheap renewable energy tariffs, according to the Global Hydrogen Council.

 

Challenge in making Green Hydrogen:

  • Storing and transportation: H2 is a highly flammable gas, it takes up a lot of space and has a habit of making steel pipes and welds brittle and prone to failure.
  • High Cost: The International Energy Agency put the cost of green hydrogen at $3 to $7.50 per kilo, compared to $0.90 to $3.20 for production using steam methane reformation.
  • Loss of Efficiency in every process: Electrolyzer efficiencies range from around 60 percent to 80 percent.

 

Significance

  • Achieve targets pledged under the Paris Climate Agreement i.e. to reduce the emission intensity of its economy by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
  • Provide an alternative to fossil fuels
  • Provide a transition toward low emissions and work towards a clean, healthy environment. 

 

Why India should opt for Green Hydrogen?

  • Adoption of Green hydrogen technologies are favorable in those sectors where direct electrification isn't feasiblefor ex in Heavy duty, long-range transport and long-term storage in the power sector.
  • With technological improvements, green hydrogen will become more affordable and accessible.
  • It can be used in a wide range of existing applications such as fertilisers, mobility, power, chemicals and shipping.
  • It can be blended up to 10 per cent by city gas distribution networks for wider acceptance.
  • It is a cross-cutting solution that may reduce emissions across a range of sectors.

 

What can India do to build a global-scale green hydrogen industry?

  • India should announce ambitious national targets for green hydrogenand electrolyser capacity by 2030.
  • Launch an incentive programme for the production of electrolysers.
  • Implementing complementary solutionsthat create virtuous cycles for ex. building the hydrogen infrastructure for refueling, heating and generating electricity at airports.
  • Optimising distribution networksto decarbonise the gas grid.

 

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1790951