India seeks to bids to set up green hydrogen plants

Subject :Environment

India will invite bids for subsidies for setting up green-hydrogen manufacturing and utilization hubs, fertilizer and steel plants based on the fuel, and factories for making electrolysers, two government sources told Reuters.
The bidding process is part of a first phase of a $2 billion incentive plan announced last week to boost use of green hydrogen to cut emissions and make India a major exporter in the field.

National Green Hydrogen Plan

National Green Hydrogen Mission, aims at substituting all ammonia-based fertilizer imports with domestic fertilizers using green ammonia by 2034-35.
The government wants India to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.
It aims to entail over Rs 8 lakh crore of total investments and is expected to generate six lakh jobs.
It will also lead to a cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports by over Rs 1 lakh crore and an abatement of nearly 50 MT of annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Similarly, steel projects using 100% green hydrogen will be set up, according to two sources.
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is the nodal ministry of the mission.

Implementation

The hydrogen plan is to be implemented in phases.
Up to 2025-26, sectors already using hydrogen will be converted to green hydrogen and low-cost electrolyser manufacturing will be set up.
In the second phase, between 2026-27 and 2029-30, production of commercial-scale green hydrogen in steel and mobility sectors will be explored, the two officials said.

Green Hydrogen

Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy (like Solar, Wind) and has a lower carbon footprint.
Electricity splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

By Products : Water, Water Vapor.

Green hydrogen has specific advantages:

Environment Friendly: Green Hydrogen as energy source is seen as the next big thing as its usage would lead to zero emissions
Potential to Decarbonise various sectors: It is a clean burning molecule, which can decarbonise a range of sectors including iron and steel, chemicals, and transportation.
Efficient utilization of Renewable Energy: Renewable energy that cannot be stored or used by the grid can be channelled to produce hydrogen.
Reduced Dependence on Rare Minerals: Green Hydrogen also holds the key to clean electric mobility that doesn’t depend on rare minerals. Green Hydrogen helps achieve long-term vision of reduced dependency on minerals and rare-earth element-based battery as energy storage.
Helps Achieve Paris Goal: Green hydrogen energy is vital for India to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions and ensure regional and national energy security, access and availability
Energy Security: Green energy helps reduce import dependency on fossil fuels

Challenges with regard to Hydrogen Fuel

Fuelling Infrastructure: A big barrier to the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has been a lack of fuelling station infrastructure — fuel cell cars refuel in a similar way to conventional cars, but can’t use the same station (only 500 in the world & that too in Europe, Japan, South Korea)
Safety is seen as a concern: Hydrogen is pressurised and stored in a cryogenic tank, from there it is fed to a lower-pressure cell and put through an electro-chemical reaction to generate electricity.
Scaling up the technology and achieving critical mass remains the big challenge. More vehicles on the road and more supporting infrastructure can lower costs.

Other Types of Hydrogen

Brown hydrogen is produced using coal where the emissions are released to the air.
Grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas where the associated emissions are released to the air.
Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas, where the emissions are captured using carbon capture and storage.