Green Hydrogen - IAS Gyan

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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