India Today’s Independence Day special assesses how the country, striving for ‘developed’ status, needs to change the energy dynamic
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A factory worker at a facility of Log9 Materials in Bengaluru which makes both Lithium FerroPhosphate and Lithium Titanate batteries; (Photo: Bandeep Singh)
New Delhi,UPDATED: Aug 23, 2023 19:07 IST
(NOTE: This is a reprint of an article that was published in the INDIA TODAY Independence Day special dated August 28, 2023)
A whole global movement is afoot to bring down carbon emissions by reducing the use of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, petrol and diesel. Green hydrogen is a key element here. A few Indian private sector behemoths have entered the fray, but the technological acumen has to be onboarded through tie-ups with global firms. Biofuels are another critical component in this game. A coherent, unambiguous policy would help expand their share in our energy basket—for one, by upping biofuel offtake by refineries. At the sme time, India has to rapidly create an ecosystem for battery technology as it presses the pedal on electric mobility.
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GO FOR GREEN HYDROGEN
The worldwide effort to cut down carbon emissions has acquired urgency in recent years. At the centre of the plan is reducing the use of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, petrol and diesel in industry and daily life. Green hydrogen featured in many an emission-reduction pledge at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, the grand plan being to decarbonise heavy industry, freight, shipping and aviation.
Hydrogen has many uses—in fuel cells to generate electricity, in petroleum refining and in fertiliser production. It is also fast emerging as a transportation fuel. Producing hydrogen involves splitting water into its basic components—hydrogen and oxygen—through electrolysis. When this process is conducted using alternative sources of energy such as wind or solar power, the product is called “green hdrogen” as opposed to “grey hydrogen”, if the power used to produce it is conventional fuel like coal.
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The World Economic Forum describes hydrogen as an important pillar of the net zero economy. The Green Hydrogen Catapult, a UN initiative to lower the cost of green hydrogen, has nearly doubled its goal for electrolysers from 25 gigawatts (GW) set in 2020, to 45 GW by 2027. In January 2023, India approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore between 2023-24 and 2029-30 to make the country a global hub for the production, use and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives. It has set an ambitious target: green hydrogen production capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum, with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of abut 125 GW, by 2030. The goal is to achieve energy independence by 2047 and net-zero emissions by 2070.
Currently, India imports 85 per cent of its crude oil requirement—it bought 232.4 million tonnes in 2022-23, spending $158.3 billion (Rs 13 lakh crore). As the world increasingly pledges to move away from fossil fuels, India will be looking to cut down on oil imports and bank on indigenous production of green fuel in the long run.
