In November 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the launch of the National Hydrogen Energy Mission. This was also reiterated in the Union Budget 2021-2022 by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Hydrogen is a very light gas, and occupies a lot of volume. It cannot be placed in the same cylinders as CNG because it requires much more pressure. The challenges to hydrogen are transportation and storage. Hydrogen is currently being used in oil refineries. The costs of storage, purification and transport in bringing it to the cities drives up the prices,” said the Indian Oil official. (Indian Oil Hydrogen, 2021)
The use of Hydrogen as a fuel has recently been tested by mixing it with compressed natural gas (CNG) to make H-CNG. “Broadly speaking, if hydrogen is available at less than Rs 700 per kilogramme (kg) at the point of use, it will be comparable to a petrol-run vehicle at present market prices. This can be possible in another decade with more technological investments in the hydrogen ecosystem,” an official from Indian Oil’s R&D division told Business Standard. “The first step for adoption of hydrogen will be through H-CNG. Indian Oil R&D has found that by mixing hydrogen with CNG, up to around 18 per cent by volume, it will not have any adverse effect on the vehicle. However, the currently available hydrogen manufacturing approach is not clean or green. The hydrogen here is made from natural gas or naphtha, largely using steam-methane reforming. This puts dependence on fossil fuel as a source of hydrogen. (Indian Oil Hydrogen, 2021)
IIT (BHU) professor Dr. Rajesh Kumar Upadhyay, and his team have come up with a membrane reformer prototype that can produce ultra-pure hydrogen from methanol. The team informed that it is the first such prototype in India and there are no such commercial units worldwide. According to Dr. Upadhyay, the prototype isolated 99.999 percent pure hydrogen from a mere 15 ml/minute methanol to 13 liters/minute and succeeded in producing 1 KW of power on integration with a hydrogen fuel cell. The major challenge in the commercialization of hydrogen energy is to develop efficient and safe methods of production, separation, transport, and storage since it is highly combustible. The on-site generation of hydrogen significantly reduces this threat,” Prof Jain said. (IIT H2 FC prototype, 2021)
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will soon notify a high-level committee–likely to be chaired by NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar–that will work on fast-tracking development and usage of hydrogen as a fuel, an official said. The expert committee will include scientists, industry leaders and policymakers from across stakeholder ministries. Kumar has already had two rounds of discussions with experts and stakeholder ministries on developing a roadmap for introducing hydrogen. The financial allocation to the scheme will be made once the policy roadmap is finalised. Policymakers are of the view that hydrogen is the cleanest fuel and is three times more energetic than gasoline and diesel. (Hydrogen Panel India, 2021)
India’s Acme Solar Holdings Ltd plan to invest $2.5 billion to manufacture green ammonia and green hydrogen in Oman. This manufacturing facility will be in Duqm, Oman, and will supply green ammonia to Europe, America and Asia region. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a large-scale facility to produce 2,200 metric tonnes (mt) of green ammonia per day has been inked with The Oman Company for the Development of the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (Tatweer), according to an Acme Group statement. (Acme Hydrogen, 2021)
According to a recent report of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), by 2050, nearly 80 per cent of India’s hydrogen is projected to be green – produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis. The report has stated that green hydrogen will become the most competitive route for hydrogen production by around 2030. (India Green H2 Chile, 2021)
The new energy business of RIL will work closely with subsidiary O2C. O2C will invest in carbon capture (to convert CO2 into useful products and chemicals) and hydrogen production to meet H2 demand as the Indian economy moves from carbon-based fuels to a hydrogen economy. RIL plans to have a mix of renewable energy using a mix of solar, wind and batteries to transition acceleration into a hydrogen economy. RIL’s de-merger plan for Oil to Chemicals (O2C) business is a step towards monetisation and acceleration of its new energy and material plans into batteries, hydrogen, renewables and carbon capture – all of which point to the next leg of multiple expansion and clarity on the next investment cycle. With this reorganisation, RIL will have four growth engines – digital, retail, new materials and new energy. (RIL O2C, 2021)
Morgan Stanley in a report last month said Reliance could invest $13 billion-$15 billion over a decade to build a portfolio of 18 gigawatts of renewables, 15 gigawatts for battery manufacturing and 3 gigawatts of hydrogen fuel sales amongst others. (Reliance H2 plans, 2021)
In an announcement, Fusion Fuel Green — which has offices in Ireland and Portugal — said it had signed an agreement with BGR Energy Systems, an engineering, procurement and construction firm whose corporate headquarters are in Chennai. “Fusion Fuel will install a small demonstrator facility for BGR Energy in the region of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India in the second half of 2021 using its market-leading HEVO-SOLAR technology to generate cost-competitive green hydrogen. The companies will then co-develop projects throughout India, leveraging BGR Energy’s extensive client network and existing commercial footprint,” Fusion Fuel Green announced. (BGR H2 Pilot, 2021)
