Green hydrogen's benefits as fuel for India

• Long-term storage: The intermittent nature of renewable energy, particularly wind energy, causes grid instability. Green hydrogen has a high energy storage capacity. Fuel cells can be used to generate energy utilizing the hydrogen that has been stored.
• Grid stability: Hydrogen gas interacts with oxygen to produce electricity and water vapour in a fuel cell, a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. As a result, hydrogen can serve as an energy storage mechanism and promote grid stability.
• Financial advantages: According to experts, the oxygen that is created as a byproduct (8 kg of oxygen are produced for every kg of hydrogen) can also be made into money by employing it in industrial and medical applications, for environmental enrichment, or both.
• Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier that can be used for a variety of energy applications, including the fusion of renewable energy sources and transportation.
• Less emissions: Unlike grey hydrogen, which is made from methane and emits greenhouse gases, it is created using RE and electrolysis to split water.
• Additionally, the byproduct is environmentally favorable because hydrogen may be used to extract energy either through combustion or fuel cells, which produce just water as a result.

Challenges

Supply-side problems

• Even if its growth is comparable to that of solar and wind energy, its supply will likely stay limited in the medium term and unpredictable in the long run.

Electrolyser supply

• It is an apparatus that generates green hydrogen.
• In comparison to where we need to be in 2050 for Net Zero emissions scenarios, electrolysis capacity is still very small.

Infrastructure

• Government measures should increase demand and infrastructure in addition to supply.

Increased risks of leaks

• Specifically, in high-pressure pipes, hydrogen embrittlement can damage the metal or polyethene pipes and increase the danger of leaks.

Brittle

• When hydrogen diffuses into a material, it can cause hydrogen embrittlement, which causes the metal to become brittle.

Why does India want to produce green hydrogen?

• India pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 33–35% from 2005 levels under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• The objective of this International Climate Change pact is to keep global warming below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. It is binding international law.
• India reaffirmed its resolve to transform its economy from one that depends on fossil fuels and imports to one that is net-zero by the year 2070 at the Glasgow Conference of Parties in 2021.
• India spends about $100 billion annually on energy imports.
• The country now emits a significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), contributing roughly 7% of the world's CO2 burden, as a result of rising fossil fuel consumption.
• It will help the iron and steel, chemical, and transportation sectors in India, which together account for 1/3 of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
• India's goal to become carbon neutral by 2050 and reach 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 can be boosted by hydrogen energy.

Way Forward

• Even if customers' interest in electric vehicles has started to grow recently, renewable energy companies see green hydrogen as a growing business. Some have even focused on the transportation industry.
• In order to design and analyse the optimal model for implementing green hydrogen as a primary fuel, policymakers must establish a comprehensive strategy.

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