Examine the Major Challenges in producing green hydrogen
- Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced using renewable energy through electrolysis.
- Green hydrogen has significantly lower carbon emissions than grey hydrogen.
Challenges in producing green hydrogen
- Electrolyser challenge
- Electrolyser is a system that uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis.
- According to International Energy Agency, as of 2021 the global manufacturing capacity of electrolysers stands at 8 GW/year.
- So, if India were to achieve its 2030 target, it would need 60-100 GW (gigawatt) of electrolyser capacity, which means almost 12 times the current global production capacity.
- Lack of access to critical minerals such as nickel and rare earth metals such as lanthanum and zirconium to overcome the electrolyser challenge.
- These resources are concentrated in China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Peru.
- India has limited processing capabilities in these minerals.
- Energy source challenge
- Green hydrogen requires renewable energy as a source of electricity.
- India''s plan is to install 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 but currently 174.53 Giga Watts.
- Endogenous resources challenge
- Production of one kg of hydrogen by electrolysis requires around nine litres of water.
- Electrolysis is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
- In the case of India, its requirement of approximately 50 billion litres of demineralised water supply.
- As several parts of India are already severely water-stressed.
- It will impact biodiversity and create challenges and limitations in the location of electrolysers.
- Policy challenges
- Uncertainty in the policy framework
- Lack of research and development (“R&D”)
- Capital-intensive process can cause burden to government funds.
Looking forward
- Set up largescale manufacturing, build expertise and secure geopolitical partnerships for the procurement of critical minerals.
- Improve the overall technical and economic viability of electrolysers year-over-year.
- Add efficiently and economically close to 100 GW of overall renewable energy capacity per year over the next seven years and make available dispatch corridors and mechanisms.
- Establish safety standards for green hydrogen storage and transportation, adding to the cost of hydrogen as a fuel.
- Green hydrogen hubs to strike a fine balance between being renewable energy-rich, water resource-rich and being close to hydrogen demand (end-use) centres for them to be economically feasible while keeping the additional costs minimum.
Currently, the global levelized cost of producing green hydrogen ranges between Rs. 250-650/kg while India aims to produce green hydrogen in the range of Rs 100-150/kg by 2030. It is a difficult task to accomplish. There are challenges on the way but there is a huge benefit if India will achieve the green hydrogen target. It will surely boost the economy and will give new hights to our energy sector.
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