Secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla said the government is exploring the possibility of producing green hydrogen through sea water or municipal waste water. This is being looked into to eliminate the risk for bankers and the financing sector while lending for green hydrogen.
With the government looking at disaggregated production of green hydrogen, the Secretary told CNBC-TV18 that water sources available near the production facilities will be looked at as part of research for green hydrogen technology. He assured that the amount of water required for the Green Hydrogen Mission is not that significant. He pointed out that there is already a thermal power capacity of over 2 lakh MW in India, and the entire green hydrogen target will need only as much water as 5,000 to 8,000 MW thermal plant.
Stressing on the fact that India imports 40 percent of its energy requirements worth $90 billion every year, Bhalla said that green hydrogen can play a key role in replacing fossil fuels in mobility, shipping and the aviation sector. He stated that a huge number of global standards for green hydrogen have to be evaluated to look at their suitability for adoption.
He informed that the government is likely to come out with bids "very very shortly" under the SIGHT (Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition) scheme. He projected a bright future for green hydrogen exports from India in near future, as he pointed out to EU's Hydrogen import target of 10 MMT by 2030 and IEA estimate of 210 million tonnes of hydrogen demand by 2030, with half of it being met via green sources.
He added that the draft R&D roadmap for green hydrogen will be put out in the public domain for stakeholder consultation, and will be finalised after comments. While the government is keeping both the options open for long haul mobility, be it IC engines or fuel cells, the Secretary said that not just development of technology but also its adoption by companies and operators is important.
Citing the example of the fuel cell, he said that the government will have to look out as to how it should be rolled out across India if it's expensive. He explained that initially it may have to be a combination of different technologies, but if something becomes economical and competitive then it will automatically get adopted by everyone.
