India seeks to bids to set up green hydrogen plants
- January 12, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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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.