Context: India aims to capture 10% of the global green hydrogen demand by 2030, with significant progress made through the National Green Hydrogen Mission. The global green hydrogen demand is expected to exceed 100 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2030.
Relevance of the topic:
Prelims: Types of Hydrogen, National Hydrogen Mission
Mains: Benefits and Challenges in production of Green Hydrogen as a fuel.
Hydrogen as an Alternative Fuel
- Hydrogen is the lightest and the most abundant element in the universe. On Earth, it is found in compounds like water or hydrocarbons. However, Hydrogen is not present in the free state. Therefore, it must be created and stored before it tends to be utilised.
- Hydrogen Fuel: Hydrogen fuel is produced by splitting water (H₂O) into its components: hydrogen (H₂) and oxygen (O₂). The hydrogen gas can be used to power fuel cells, which generate electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, releasing only water vapour as a byproduct.
Green Hydrogen:
- Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced using electricity from clean energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, which do not release greenhouse gases when generating electricity.
- Green hydrogen is made when water (H2O) is split into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) via a process known as electrolysis.
Other Types of Hydrogen:
Depending on the type of production used, different colour names are assigned to the hydrogen.
1. Grey Hydrogen:
- Grey hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal. Grey hydrogen accounts for roughly 95% of the hydrogen produced in the world today.
- The two main production methods are steam methane reforming and coal gasification. Both of these processes release carbon dioxide (CO2).
- If the carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, then the hydrogen produced is referred to as grey hydrogen.
2. Blue Hydrogen:
- Blue hydrogen is similar to grey hydrogen, except that most of the CO2 emissions are sequestered (stored in the ground) using carbon capture and storage (CCS).
- Capturing and storing the carbon dioxide instead of releasing it into the atmosphere allows blue hydrogen to be a low-carbon fuel.
- Blue hydrogen is a cleaner alternative to grey hydrogen, but is expensive since carbon capture technology is used.
3. Pink Hydrogen:
- Pink hydrogen is produced through electrolysis of water but using energy from nuclear power, which does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions.
- Pink hydrogen facilities can achieve a high capacity factor due to the steady base-load profile of nuclear power (involving both stability and density), as compared to the intermittent supply from renewable sources (solar, wind).
4. Turquoise Hydrogen: Turquoise hydrogen is made using a process called methane pyrolysis. In this process methane is split into hydrogen and solid carbon with heating in reactors or blast furnaces.
National Green Hydrogen Mission:
- National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched in 2023 with an outlay of Rs. 19,744 crores from FY 2024 to FY 2030.
- Aim: To develop India into a global hub for production, usage and export of Green hydrogen and its derivatives.
- The scheme has set out a goal of at least 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of annual green hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
- Initiative of: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
As part of the mission, the government has awarded 3,000 megawatts of electrolyser manufacturing capacity to 15 companies, signaling a major industrial push.
Recently, the government has announced that India aims to secure 10% of global green hydrogen demand, or 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2030, which is an aspirational target than that set in the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
Challenges associated with production of Green Hydrogen:
- Renewable energy supply crunch: Achieving the target under the National Green Hydrogen Mission requires the installation of 125 GW of dedicated renewable energy and 250,000 gigawatt-hr. units of power (250 TWh), equivalent to about 13% of India’s present electricity generation.
- Relying on conventional energy sources: The main concern is that if electrolysers (which split water to produce hydrogen and oxygen) were to run 24x7, they would have to operate even at night when no solar power is available. This would then mean tapping into conventional coal-fired electricity (about 70% of the electricity on the grid is coal-generated).
- Burning Biomass: India’s standards allow the use of biomass to produce green hydrogen, which results in carbon emissions when burnt.
- Technological constraints: The challenge is to compress or liquify Hydrogen. It needs to be kept at a stable minus 253°C (far below the temperature of (-) 163°C at which Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is stored; making its ‘prior to use cost’ extremely high.
- Prohibitive Costs: The production cost of green hydrogen has been a prime obstacle. Research conducted by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) indicates that the cost of its production is about $1.5 per kg by 2030 (for countries with eternal sunshine and huge unoccupied areas) if several conservative measures are implemented.
- Lack of Manufacturing and deployment of electrolysers: India’s current electrolysers manufacturing capacity is around 0.4 GW, which needs to be scaled to ~200 GW by 2050.
- High cost of storage system: Fuel cells which convert hydrogen fuel to usable energy for cars, are still expensive.
Way Forward
Development of technology to produce green hydrogen is expensive. However, falling prices for renewable energy and fuel cells and stringent climate change regulations have spurred investment in the sector.
- Investing in R&D and promoting private sector participation in the hydrogen economy.
- Developing standardised procedures, rules and standards for hydrogen economy which will standardise and scale up production.
- Mandating large users of hydrogen to shift to green hydrogen such as refineries, iron, and steel plants etc. For example, a minimum green hydrogen mandate can be introduced in such industries.
- Green hydrogen facilities can be created at sites where the cost of producing renewable energy is lowest. E.g., in the Thar desert region in Rajasthan and Ladakh etc.
- Facilitating international trade in clean & green hydrogen.
Also Read: Hydrogen as an alternative fuel: Explained