Towards Hydrogen Economy

In the budget speech for 2023 -24 Kerala finance minister K N Balagopal declared the commitment of the govt. towards the goal of green energy. The state has a favourable atmosphere for the production of green hydrogen which is also called clean energy. There are four types of hydrogen available in the world depending on the method of origin. They are known as green hydrogen-obtained from the electrolysis of water using solar or wind energy ,grey hydrogen obtained from petroleum products with the emission of carbon dioxide, blue hydrogen -produced with catenation technology from hydrocarbons and pink hydrogen produced using atomic power or from nuclear reactors. Green hydrogen produced using renewable energy can play an important role in eco-friendly development. Using hydrogen fuel in long-haul vehicles including trucks, buses and ships will reduce carbon emissions to a great extent. A scheme of 200 crore is announced for viability gap funding or grant or equity support to set up green hydrogen hubs in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram in the next two years. An amount of Rs 20 core is earmarked additionally for this, the finance minister declared.

Now the state government has nominated the Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (ANERT) as the state nodal agency for green hydrogen initiatives. ANERT is entrusted with the role of a single nodal agency for drafting and publishing the green hydrogen policies, assisting investors, developing a single window system for approvals and a grievances redressal mechanism and laisoning with state and central government agencies. In January 2022 the union government approved the national green hydrogen mission to make India energy-independent by 2047 and achieve net zero by 2070. The state government has chalked out an action plan for generating electricity from ecofriendly green power sources. Hydrogen fuel is good for heavy vehicles including trucks, buses and containers which will eventually reduce carbon emissions. The state of Kerala has kick-started the process of creating a green hydrogen policy, which will point the way forward for developing capabilities and opportunities in this emerging era along the lines of the national green hydrogen mission. Kerala is a totally electrified state, the first of its kind in India, and to include hydrogen-powered mobility in the zero-emission mobility policy.

The state is No.1 in the number of electric vehicles mobility in the country. The government has constituted Kerala’s hydrogen economy mission to contribute strategic inputs and facilitate partnerships and collaborations towards transforming the state into a green hydrogen hub. The state government is planning to device a strategic roadmap, policy formulation and implementation plan to facilitate investment in the green hydrogen domain and transform the state into a green hydrogen hub. Kerala has 8000 MW of renewable energy potential of which only about 10 per cent is utilised. Indeed, 70 per cent of the power demand of the state of Kerala is imported from the national grid so the reservoirs and solar continue to be future sources of electricity. Green hydrogen could be generated by the splitting of water through electrolysis. An analysis cited that the green hydrogen produced is economically viable, cheaper than traditional fossil fuel energy and can cater for local energy demand and green hydrogen could be exported to the global market. As electrolysis is done with the help of solar energy will also be cheaper. Even though India is energy deficient now the nation has become an exporter of power. India became a net exporter of power with the world’s third largest energy guzzler exporting 2,410 million units to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in FY 23. We have become a power-surplus country from being a power–deficit one.

In the last nine years, our energy shortage has reduced from 4.2 per cent in FY 14 to 0.2 per cent in FY 24. India under world nations is moving towards renewable sources of energy, the European nations give special trust to the development of hydrogen fuel as an alternative energy source. The European nations depended on the oil-rich Russia for the energy source for decades, i.e. crude oil and gas. In view of the Russia-Ukraine war, they set the research and development projects for alternative sources of energy including renewable energy and green hydrogen other than fossil fuels. Moreover, the increase in the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the greenhouse effect and leads to global warming, melting of snow and inundation of lowlands. Now the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 0.03 per cent which could be used for photosynthesis of plants. Any further increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is disastrous to mankind as it leads to global warming. So much so that the green hydrogen economy is the answer for future generations.