Green Hydrogen 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

India, being a tropical country, has a significant edge in green hydrogen production due to its favourable geographical conditions and abundant natural resources. Therefore, at the recently held World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, India said it will emerge as the leader of green hydrogen by taking advantage of the current energy crisis across the globe.

Efforts in this regard:

• The Centre has released guidelines on the National Hydrogen Mission which aims to increase production to 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2030 to meet about 40 percent of domestic requirements.
• The centre is considering a proposal to introduce a Rs 15,000-crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for electrolysers.
• In February, the centre notified a green hydrogen and green ammonia policy that offers 25 years of free power for any new renewable energy plants set up for green hydrogen production before July 2025.
• The government is also planning to introduce mandates requiring that the oil refining, fertiliser and steel sectors procure green hydrogen for a certain proportion of their requirements.

What is Green Hydrogen? 

Hydrogen when produced by electrolysis using renewable energy is known as Green Hydrogen which has no carbon  footprint.

 Significance of Green Hydrogen:

• Green hydrogen energy is vital for India to meet its Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) Targets and ensure regional and national energy security, access and availability.
• Green Hydrogen can act as an energy storage option, which would be essential to meet intermittencies (of renewable energy) in the future.
• In terms of mobility, for long distance mobilisations for either urban freight movement within cities and states or for passengers, Green Hydrogen can be used in railways, large ships, buses or trucks, etc.

Applications of Green Hydrogen

• Green Chemicals like ammonia and methanol can directly be utilized in existing applications like fertilizers, mobility, power, chemicals, shipping etc.
• Green Hydrogen blending up to 10% may be adopted in CGD networks to gain widespread acceptance.

Benefits

• It is a clean-burning molecule, which can decarbonize a range of sectors including iron and steel, chemicals, and transportation.
• Renewable energy that cannot be stored or used by the grid can be channelled to produce hydrogen.