The Indian government has set an emission limit of two-kilogram carbon dioxide for every kilogram of hydrogen produced to be classified as “green” from renewable sources, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said on Saturday. It said its notification would bring widely awaited clarity for green hydrogen production in India. “With this notification, India becomes one of the first few countries in the world to announce a definition of Green Hydrogen,” the ministry said in the statement detailing what emissions would be accounted for. India wants to become a global hub for the production of green hydrogen and is aiming for annual production of 5 million tons of fuel by 2030, which would cut about 50 million metric tons of carbon emissions and save more than $12 billion on fossil fuel imports. It is an ambitious plan for a country whose hydrogen consumed is currently produced mostly with fossil fuels. While hydrogen fuel only emits water when used as fuel, it is made by electrolysis plants that split water molecules. At issue is what energy is used to produce it and the carbon emissions involved in the process. Earlier this year, officials told Reuters India, which holds the rotating G20 presidency this year, suggested a 1 kg CO2 emissions limit for green hydrogen, half of the threshold announced on Saturday. Although first production is expected only in 2026, India has been negotiating bilateral agreements with the European Union, Japan and other countries to start exporting the fuel. Source: Arabnews

  The government of India likely to provide for targeted fiscal incentives and allocation of funds for promotion of green hydrogen in the country in Union Budget 2022-23, which is slated to be unveiled in Parliament on Tuesday. The government launched National Hydrogen Mission in 2021. Earlier this month, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh had indicated that a green hydrogen policy will be unveiled in February which would feature many incentives to boost green hydrogen in the country. "While 2021 saw the launch of National Hydrogen Mission, it is likely that the Budget may provide for targeted fiscal incentives for R&D in green hydrogen segment, creation of domestic supply chain for hydrogen and reduce customs duties on electrolysers to boost green hydrogen production," says Venkatesh Raman Prasad, Partner, J Sagar Associates (JSA). Prasad is of the view that India's commitment at COP 26 of  achieving net zero emissions by 2070 and meet 50 per cent of energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030 shows that the government intends to focus on cleaner sources of energy. Hemant Mallya, senior programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) opines that green hydrogen has many industrial uses and can potentially decarbonise many hard-to-abate sectors, like the iron and steel industry. He says that an outlay of Rs 1,200 crore by 2024 in the upcoming Budget could trigger pilots in various end-use applications such as testing green hydrogen readiness of natural gas pipelines, underground hydrogen storage, and pilots for equipment such as furnaces, boilers, and process heaters. He suggests that another Rs 165 crore could support R&D, especially on catalysts and electrolyser membranes, finding substitutes for critical minerals, setting up testing labs and enforcing safety standards. These investments would help indigenize green hydrogen production and use as an industrial fuel, he opines. Davinder Sandhu, co-founder & chairman, Primus Partners says that electrolysers used to manufacture hydrogen at present are expensive and bringing down their cost will contribute to reducing  the cost of green hydrogen. This will enable the country to meet the target of establishing 10 gigawatt of domestic manufacturing capacity as well as making India a global leader in the sector, he opines. In this regard, he suggests that the government should consider a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme which can support indigenization of electrolysers and scaling up of green hydrogen production at optimized cost. Earlier this month, Union minister R K Singh had said a new green hydrogen policy will feature incentives like free power transmission for 25 years, dollar denominated bids, offer of land in renewable energy parks and land allocation near ports for creating bunkers for green hydrogen or ammonia. Source: Rediff.com

The BRICS Nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are sitting for a two days summit in India on June 22-23, 2021. The summit is on Green Hydrogen initiatives.  The event offers a platform to share their respective Green Hydrogen initiatives and views on how to take it to the next level in their own countries. The online event will be held via a video conference, said an official release. The event will be anchored by India's largest power producer and one of the global energy majors, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) under Ministry of Power. The virtual summit will bring the best brains, policy makers and major stakeholders from the BRICS nations deliberating and discussing at length the future of Hydrogen in the energy mix, read the release. The representatives from each country would be sharing respective initiatives undertaken by their countries on utilization of hydrogen and their future plans. The speakers will also share the relevance of different technologies developed on hydrogen and its priorities for their country. As the world rapidly moves to decarbonise the entire energy system, hydrogen is poised to play a vital role and build on the rapid scale-up of renewable resources across the world. Hydrogen when produced by electrolysis using renewable energy is known as Green Hydrogen which has no carbon footprint. This gives Hydrogen the edge over other fuels to unlock various avenues of green usage. However, challenges lie in terms of technology, efficiency, financial viability and scaling up which the summit will aim to address. Source: ANI B.M./ Rtv