Green Hydrogen: Fuel for future

Green Hydrogen: Fuel for future

Subject :Economy

Section : Fiscal Policy

Context:

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a few days ago, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said India will emerge as the leader of green hydrogen by taking advantage of the current energy crisis across the globe.

What is Green Hydrogen?

• The term ‘green’ signifies how the electricity is generated to obtain the hydrogen, which does not emit greenhouse gas when burned.
• Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis using renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind or hydel power.
• Hydrogen can be ‘grey’ and ‘blue’ too.
• Grey hydrogen is generated through fossil fuels such as coal and gas and currently accounts for 95% of the total production in South Asia.
• Blue hydrogen, too, is produced using electricity generated by burning fossil fuels but with technologies to prevent the carbon released in the process from entering the atmosphere.

Advantages of Hydrogen as a duel

• The intermittent nature of renewable energy, especially wind, leads to grid instability.
• Green hydrogen can be stored for long periods of time. The stored hydrogen can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells.
• In a fuel cell, a device that converts the energy of a chemical into electricity, hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen to produce electricity and water vapour.
• Hydrogen, thus, can act as an energy storage device and contribute to grid stability.
• Renewable developers see green hydrogen as an emerging market and some have targeted the transport sector, although electric vehicles have begun to catch the imagination of consumers today.

Recent initiatives in India

• Under the Paris Agreement, India is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 33­-35% from the 2005 levels, which can be achieved by promoting Green Hydrogen.
• To reduce India’s energy import bill, and in order to become energy independent by 2047, the government stressed the need to introduce green hydrogen as an alternative fuel that can make India the global hub and a major exporter of hydrogen.
• The National Hydrogen Mission was launched on August 15, 2021, with a view to cutting down carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewable sources of energy.
• On April 20, 2022 the public sector OIL, which is headquartered in eastern Assam’s Duliajan, set up India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen pilot plant.