Stepping On The Gas With Hydrogen Policy

It seems now as far as climate change is concerned, it is all about gasses. 

On the one hand, we have greenhouse gasses (GHG) such as carbon dioxide and methane that are responsible for global warming, and on the other hand, we have hydrogen being looked upon as a green energy carrier and a non-emitting source.

Hydrogen is a primordial gas that was the first element to form in the beginning of the universe and in a sense, is a source of all energy and the starlight we have. 

It is the nuclear fusion of hydrogen that keeps not only our sun going but also all other stars. Not surprising, therefore, that the government of India has come up with a hydrogen policy to address the net-zero challenge, increasingly being pushed as a binding commitment by all the countries.

In the last five-six years, we have seen a massive surge in renewable energy installations across the world, to the extent that it has evolved as the mainstream energy option. However, variability in wind and solar energy resources and the absence of a carrier other than the grid is emerging as a roadblock or hindrance to the further massive upscaling of renewable energies.

It seems now the government has realised where the missing link might be. 

It was lying in the water, mostly in the sea as two of the atoms in a molecule of water. 

Hydrogen is abundant and one has to neither explore it, drill it, or mine it. One needs to just dis-associate it from one atom of oxygen in the water to get hydrogen in pure form. Of course, the water should be demineralised, which means, if we are considering massive use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in our economy, we must also consider massive desalination plants, electrolysers, and storage and carrying capacities. 

The hydrogen policy, announced recently, is meant to complete the symphony of renewables.

Apart from massive use in industry, we may soon find its direct use in energy consumption and energy storage in transport and the domestic and retail sectors. Therefore, with the hydrogen policy in place, we should see a complete transformation in the energy sector.

Hydrogen is known as an energy carrier as it can be a clean-burning fuel, and when combined with oxygen in a fuel cell, it produces heat and electricity with only water vapor as a byproduct. Green hydrogen can be produced by passing electricity through water, breaking the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Thus a hydrogen economy is possible, wherein hydrogen is produced and stored for later use or piped, and then converted cleanly into heat and electricity. It has very high energy for its weight, but very low energy for its volume, therefore, technological approaches are needed to store and transport it. In vehicles working on fuel cells, it can be stored on the vehicle itself while drawing upon oxygen from the atmosphere.

Fundamentally, if hydrogen can be stored in big or small containers, it can be put to use almost anywhere, including distributed loads, residential loads, industrial loads, and transport, in addition to electricity generation. At the retail level, the existing network of oil and gas distribution with appropriate technologies and infrastructure can be used for hydrogen as well. Thus it has the potential to be the energy basis for a clean energy system, provided the right kind of technologies and infrastructure are deployed. This is perhaps easier and simpler than the oil and gas infrastructure.

Key elements of the green hydrogen economy are going to be – renewable energy, electrolysis of water (or other appropriate technologies), storage and piping, supply to end-use. Apart from energy, it can be directly used as a feedstock in industry, which at present uses grey hydrogen. Therefore, the potential to reduce GHG emissions is big.

There is no doubt that with the hydrogen policy in place, oil and gas and refinery companies would be looking at this option to be a part of the energy transition.

Good options with massive applicability are always economically viable. If hydrogen is out there in unfathomable amounts, then indeed technological and policy solutions would make the hydrogen economy

happen. A very good option in this symphony is offshore wind, which can be coupled with desalination and electrolyser plants. If we can fetch oil and gas from the depths of the sea, why can’t we fetch hydrogen from its surface. Looking beyond the technicalities involved, it can be shown that we can easily generate about 100 GW of offshore wind power from nearly 7,500 km of Indian coastline, the upper limit being around 1,000 GW. It is high time for technology providers, the corporate sector, researchers, and the concerned government agencies to work towards the integration of wind (offshore and onshore), solar, storage systems, and the rest of the paraphernalia including the electricity grid, logistics, and balance of infra to make it happen.

Given that green hydrogen and green ammonia requirements will only go up, with many options to sell hydrogen, the market should not be a major concern for the investors.

(The author is the Vice President of World Wind Energy Association)