Energetica India Magazine October-November 2021

At a time when India is well on its way to meet its Paris commitments for the greater cause of climate change and global warming, an accelerated uptake of green hydrogen within the country can reshape the renewable energy future of India and thereby further facilitate green growth. With ever-rising concerns on climate change and global warm- ing continually driving conversations around economy and energy, the policy conundrum between achieving econom- ic growth and ensuring environmental sustainability has only intensified further in recent years. For a developing economy such as India which is yet to ‘self-realize’ fully, this conundrum is particularly palpable. At the same time, endowed with a favour - able geographical location with glorious amount of sunshine and wind backed by policy support, the country has emerged as a renewable energy producer of some consequence rank - ing fifth in solar and wind power in terms of installed capacity globally. As renewables increase their footprint on the broader ener - gy policy landscape of India, there are new challenges that are presenting themselves. When the renewable power is in excess of the demand, it has the potential for creating cha - os on the grid. Conventional power from hydro, thermal and nuclear is predictable and manageable, renewable power through wind and to a lesser extent solar cannot be predicted well. Green Power producers are facing the threat of penalties if they put excess power on the grid and are being forced to look at alternative uses for the excess power. To address such new challenges, advent of green hydrogen making an appear - ance as an alternative energy ecosystem worldwide can’t be overlooked. At a time when India is well on its way to meet its Paris commitments for the greater cause of climate change and global warming, an accelerated uptake of green hydrogen within the country can reshape the renewable energy future of India and thereby further facilitate green growth. What is green hydrogen? Unlike traditional fossil fuel-based hydrogen, green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis of water using renewable power such as solar or wind which after splitting water’s two main ele - ments hydrogen and oxygen, vents oxygen as a byproduct into the atmosphere. When modern electrolysis technologies such as Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) are used, then there is no further discharge of harmful chemicals and the technology is environmentally friendly and easy to manage. How India consumes its energy The industrial sector has been the largest consumer of energy in the country accounting for nearly 56% of the total final ener - gy consumption followed by residential, agriculture, commer - cial & public sectors at 31% and transport sector at 10 percent. Within the industry sector, the most energy intensive industries are iron and steel at 17% of the industrial energy use followed by Chemicals and petrochemicals at 4% and construction at 2 percent. Similarly for electricity, most of it is consumed by in - dustry at 43% followed by domestic at 24%, agriculture at 18%, commercial at 8%, and traction and railways at 1.5 percent. How green hydrogen can lead to green consumption Since industry is the largest consumer of energy with 60% coming from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, the press - ing urgency for achieving decarbonisation of this sector cannot be denied. And green hydrogen can serve as a substitute for the high carbon-emitting resources. As such, steel which takes up maximum industrial energy as well as fertilizers which are very critical to an agricultural economy employing nearly 40% of workforce, are potential large-scale consumers of green hy - drogen. In fertilizer production, ammonia produced from green HYDROGEN How Green Hydrogen Can Reshape the Renewable Energy Future of the Country Siddharth Rastogi Executive Director MVS Engineering 40 energetica INDIA- Oct-Nov_2021