Future is hydrogen and the colour is green

The first Union Cabinet meeting of 2023 approved what is arguably one of the top three ambitious initiatives of this government – National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM). The initial funding for NGHM will be roughly Rs 20,000 crore for a range of objectives to drive the country’s transition to green and clean energy.

Policy framework

The Press Information Bureau in its release said: ‘’An enabling policy framework will be developed to support the establishment of a green hydrogen ecosystem. A robust framework of standards and regulations will also be developed. Further, a publicprivate partnership framework for R&D (Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership – SHIP) will be facilitated under the Mission; R&D projects will be goal-oriented, time-bound, and suitably scaled up to develop globally competitive technologies. A coordinated skill development programme will also be undertaken under the Mission.’’

The first step towards this policy was taken on August 15 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, when PM Narendra Modi had announced from the Red Fort that the country was crafting a hydrogen policy.

Then in February 2022, the country announced its Green Hydrogen Policy. The policy aimed at making India a global hub for production and exports of green hydrogen. It included incentives for industry to shift to this green energy to help India meet its ambitious greenhouse gas targets. The country’s public and private sector are increasingly meshing their ambitions to develop the green hydrogen sector.

Mission Mode

January’s Hydrogen Mission initiative is at the cusp of all these developments over the past two years. While our ability to innovate and be creative is indisputable, India has some catching-up to do. There is not a minute to waste. Many of the big guns in G20 have formidable footprint in this sphere and are working with humongous backing from their governments.

There are some fledgling initiatives that our government has proposed.

Shipping, for example, will see a gradual build-up of a hydrogenpowered shipping line. The country’s largest fleet operator, the Shipping Corporation of India, will retrofit a minimum of two ships to run on green hydrogen-based fuel by 2027. Public sector oil companies, that charter over 50 ships every year, will be mandated to use a minimum of one such vessel and then ramp it up gradually to more than one vessel beginning 2027.

That apart, the government in a release said that “green ammonia bunkers and refueling facilities will be set up at least at one port by 2025. Such facilities will be established at all major ports by 2035.”

For a green soil

Simultaneously, the country is working to stop imports of ammonia-based fertilisers by 2034 to 2035. These will be replaced by locally produced green ammonia-based soil based alternatives. Also, there will be bids by the government to set up two domestic green hydrogen-based urea and diammonium phosphate plants.

Caution needed

While hydrogen is a remarkable fuel alternative and is transformative in nature — not just for India but for the whole globe — considering the dangerous levels of greenhouse gases that the world emits, it also comes with certain disadvantages that need to be carefully considered.

Foremost among these is the hugely reactive nature of this fuel. Storage and transportation will require state-ofthe-art technology to make sure that it is secure and safe. All this will require enormous amount of investments, creation of new technology, transfer of technology and innovation.

India has the potential and the bandwidth to tap this enormous opportunity. It’s an ambitious goal, but one that is not beyond the reach of the government or the people of this country.