The three waves of India's Hydrogen Journey

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The 3 waves of India’s Hydrogen Journey

Finally, here comes the official stamp on India’s Green Hydrogen Mission on 4th January 2022.

But let us remind ourselves that this is the third wave in India towards mainstreaming Hydrogen. We have had two more efforts in the past in-line with the spikes in the Global Hydrogen discussions.

The first wave began with the constitution of Hydrogen Energy Task Force, (HETF) in 1976 followed by Technical Advisory Committee on Hydrogen Energy’ (TACHE) in 1983, which recommended measures for implementation of Hydrogen Energy Programmes for the Seventh Five-year Plan (1985-1990) under 3 phases: 1) R&D on new processes 2) Pilot plant-scale production and end-use oriented project 3) Commercialisation of matured technologies. The committee also recommended a Hydrogen Energy Centre for dedicated R&D on Hydrogen along with a fund allocation of Rs 820 million for 10-year period 1985-1995.

Second, in 2003, a National Hydrogen Energy Board (NHEB) was set up under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The Chairman of the steering group of NHEB was Sh. Ratan Tata and Co-Chairman was Sh. Anand Mahindra. The steering group formulated National Hydrogen Energy Road Map in 2006. A part of the roadmap, the Green Initiative for Future Transport (GIFT) aimed to put one million hydrogen fuelled vehicles Indian roads by 2020. Also, The Green Initiative for Power Generation (GIP) envisaged decentralized hydrogen-based power generation of about 1,000 MW aggregate capacity to be set up in the country by 2020. ?Post the Paris Agreement in 2015, the steering committee constituted five subcommittees in 2016 to review the status of the previous initiative wrt. Hydrogen and provide action plan till 2022. The committees came out with status reports on hydrogen economy in India in 2016.

The Green Hydrogen Mission approved on 4th Jan 2023 is the third attempt. The Mission which attempts to bring about the following likely outcomes by 2030:

·???????Development of green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonne) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country

·???????Over Rs. Eight lakh crore in total investments

·???????Creation of over Six lakh jobs

·???????Cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports over Rs. One lakh crore

·???????Abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions

Though we have been into Hydrogen since 1976, India still has to look towards the West for technology, finance and standards. It looks like, this time, the world is really geared up for Hydrogen - Let us not miss the bus this time.

My detailed write up here:

The First Wave

The First World Hydrogen Conference was held in Miami in 1976. It was the time when the world was hit by the ‘oil crisis’ and was looking for alternatives to oil as the source of energy. That same year, 1976, Government of India set up a special task force, the Hydrogen Energy Task Force (HETF) under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to draw up action plan for development and phased implementation of Hydrogen in the country. The working of this task force was triggered by a two-day National level workshop in 1977, wherein recommendations on the immediate R&D work to be undertaken in the country emerged. The focus areas of development were identified - advanced technologies for hydrogen production, innovative methods for the utilization of solar energy to produce hydrogen from water, indigenous development of solid materials for hydrogen storage etc. Several DST supported projects in these areas were undertaken in research laboratories.

Focus on Hydrogen was re-iterated when Hydrogen production, storage and utilization was identified as a thrust area by DST in their documentation of “Thrust areas in Engineering Sciences” in 1983.

The Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources (DNES) was formed in 1982. A ‘Technical Advisory Committee on Hydrogen Energy’ (TACHE) was constituted in 1983 under DNES. The committee recommended measures for implementation of Hydrogen Energy Programmes for the Seventh Five-year Plan (1985-1990) under 3 phases: 1) R&D on new processes 2) Pilot plant-scale production and end-use oriented project 3) Commercialisation of matured technologies. The committee also recommended a Hydrogen Energy Centre for dedicated R&D on Hydrogen along with a fund allocation of Rs 820 million for 10-year period 1985-1995.

The key players during this phase were limited to R&D institutes with support from Government – either DST or DNES.

On the Hydrogen production side, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) worked on the development of an indigenous, high-efficiency low-cost electrolyser for Hydrogen Production.

IIT Madras, BHU Varanasi and University of Madras worked on development of stable, high efficiency semiconductor anode material for photo-electrochemical cells. Bose Institute, Calcutta, BHU Varanasi worked on innovative photo-biological processes with selective water-splitting micro-organisms

On the Hydrogen Storage side, the major institutes working were Indian Space research organisation (ISRO), National Physical laboratory, New Delhi and IIT Kharagpur.

Based on the recommendation of the Advisory committee, while ‘Hydrogen’ did find a mention in the 7th Five-year Plan (1985- 1990), it was restricted to a one-liner “In the longer-range horizon, there are possibilities for use of hydrogen as a mobile energy source.” One discussion that came up regularly in different R&D forums during this time was the need for a systematic planned approach for transition to Hydrogen. While R&D projects on Hydrogen were taken, they were restricted to the labs with hardly any plan for commercialisation. Sastri (1987) also mentions about the need that ‘hydrogen energy tasks should be exclusively the primary function, rather than one of the several, of the implementing agency’ showing the lack of focus among Research Institutes. As offshore oil and gas resources were discovered in late 70s to mid-80s, raising hope on availability of oil for some more years, the government funding for Hydrogen research dried up. Consequently, by end of 80s, there was a sharp decline in hydrogen energy research.

The Second Wave

The Hydrogen waves in India were motivated by global environment on Hydrogen. In early 2000s, US and the European Union had announced major initiatives and investment in Hydrogen. Then US President George Bush had announced $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative aims to reduce America's growing dependence on imported oil by accelerating the commercialization of hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power vehicles and buildings. The key initiatives were a) ‘The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative’ to develop the technologies and infrastructure to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen b) FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) initiative to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure and advanced automotive technologies. The U.S. Space Shuttle program also relied on hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

EU too made the development of a hydrogen economy a major priority and constituted ‘The High Level Group (HLG)’ on Hydrogen and Fuel cells in 2002. EU’s Hydrogen plan comprised of two major phases – 1) Fundamental research, Applied research and demonstration till 2020 and 2) Hydrogen and Fuel cell large scale demonstration 2020 onwards. European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform was created to promote major stakeholder consultation for Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and Deployment Strategy (DS), Implementation Plan, determine appropriate financial engineering to realise SRA and DS, analyse education and training requirements and building public-private partnership. European Commission announces a support of 300 million Euro for Hydrogen in 6th EU Framework Programme (2002-2006) and a cumulative of 543 million Euro from 1986 to 2006.

In June 2003, US and EU agreed to collaborate on the acceleration of the development of the hydrogen economy.

Back home, Hydrogen, once again caught the attention of Indian Policy makers. A National Hydrogen Energy Board (NHEB) was set up under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, (the re-christened avatar of DNES) with high -level representation from Government, Industry, research Institutions, Academia among others. NHEB, in turn, set up a steering group under the leadership of Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, as Chairman. Mr. Anand Mahindra was the co-chairman. The steering group set up five expert groups on Hydrogen production, storage, power, transport and systems integration. Table 1 below gives the detail of the composition of the NHEB, The steering group and the experts group.

National Hydrogen Energy Board

Chairman: Minister for New and Renewable Energy

Members:

Member (Energy), Planning Commission

Secretary, MNRE

Economic Adviser to Prime Minister

Secretary, Planning Commission

Secretary, Ministry of Finance

Secretary, Department of Space

Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy

Secretary, Ministry of Power

Secretary (ER), Ministry of External Affairs

Secretary, MOEF

Secretary, DSIR

Secretary, DST

Secretary, MOP&NG

Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence

Shri Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons

Shri Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Group

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan

Chairman, IIT, Kanpur

Chairman, IIT, Chennai

President, Confederation of Indian Industry

President, Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry

President, FICCI

CMD, BHEL

CMD, Indian Oil Corporation

Dr. R. Natarajan, Chairman, AICTE

Prof. O.N. Srivastava, BHU, Varanasi

Principal Adviser & Special Secretary, MNRE- Member Secretary

Steering Group of the National Hydrogen Energy Board

Shri Ratan Tata – Chairman

Shri Anand Mahindra - Co-Chairman

Members included

Dr. K. Kasturirangan, MP, Chairman, IIT Madras, Chennai and former Chairman, ISRO;

Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission;

Dr. S. Banerjee, Director, BARC;

Prof. O.N. Srivastava, BHU;

Chairman, BHEL;

Chairman, IOC;

President, SIAM;

Dr. S.K. Chopra, Principal Adviser & Special Secretary, MNRE as Member-Secretary

Experts Group

Subject area

Chairman of experts Group

Hydrogen Production

Dr. S. Banerjee, Director, BARC

Hydrogen Storage

Prof. O.N. Srivastava, BHU

Hydrogen Application in Power

Generation

Shri Ramjee Rai, Director (ER&D), BHEL

Hydrogen Application in

Automobiles

Dr. V. Sumantran, SIAM

Hydrogen System Integration

Dr. K.Kasturirangan, MP, Chairman, IIT, Chennai and former Chairman ISRO

Table 1: Composition of composition of the NHEB, the steering group and the experts group

Source: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

The NHEB, along with the steering group and the experts group formulated the national Hydrogen Energy Roadmap in 2006, which was considered to be the integrated blueprint for long-term public and private efforts required for transition to Hydrogen Energy in the country. Unlike the R&D driven approach in the first wave, The National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap was positioned as a “industry driven planning process that offers long-term energy solutions to the growing energy needs of India while ensuring energy security for the country”. The roadmap put special emphasis on Public-private partnership and called for a total system approach. The public-private partnership, it said, was necessary to develop a vibrant industrial base in the country to cover all aspects of Hydrogen economy – production, storage, transport, end use etc.

The key area of concern highlighted in the roadmap was hydrogen production. It stressed on the importance of development of additional low-cost carbon-free methods of hydrogen production e.g. from nuclear and renewable sources, coal gasification and biomass.?Similarly, for storage, suitable technology for storage and infrastructure for transport and delivery needed focus.

On the demand side, large scale awareness was planned through demonstration projects to provide operating experience, trigger public -private partnership and achieve economies of scale to make hydrogen applications techno-commercially viable. The Road Map identified two major initiatives: Green Initiatives for Future Transport (GIFT) and Green Initiative for Power Generation (GIP).

The Green Initiative for Future Transport (GIFT) aimed to put one million hydrogen fuelled vehicles Indian roads by 2020 by development and demonstration of hydrogen powered IC engine and fuel cell-based vehicles ranging from small two/three wheelers to heavy vehicles. The one million was expected to be comprised of 7.5 lacs 2/3 wheelers, 1.5 lacs cars/taxis and 1 lac buses/vans. One agenda of Hydrogen Vision 2020- GIFT was to reduce the cost of hydrogen at delivery point from Rs.240 per kg to Rs 60-70 per kg.

The Green Initiative for Power Generation (GIP) envisaged decentralized hydrogen-based power generation of about 1,000 MW aggregate capacity to be set up in the country by 2020. It focussed on developing and demonstrating hydrogen powered IC engine/turbine and fuel cell based decentralized power generating systems ranging from small watt capacity to MW size systems for urban centres as well as rural and remote areas.

Another challenge proposed to be resolved by the Hydrogen roadmap was that of Hydrogen Safety, Codes and Standards. In 2006, Hydrogen was already being produced, stored, transported and consumed in various chemical and industrial processes but the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier was yet to be exploited. Hence, the standards available were predominantly suitable for industrial applications of hydrogen. For hydrogen applications in power generation, mobile and transport sector, existing codes and standards would need major additions and up-gradations. Thus, the roadmap also envisaged development of codes and standards for entire range of hydrogen energy and separate code for application in transport sector.

As far as the Hydrogen Industry of India is concerned, in 2006, like today, major use of Hydrogen was as feedstock in the fertilizer, chemical and petroleum refineries, produced mostly through natural gas reforming. Although some industrial base existed, industrial base for hydrogen energy application including fuel cells were still nascent. Hence, the Roadmap pointed at the need to expand industrial base to take up new hydrogen production methods, and for newer applications like in transportation. To set up suitable infrastructure in the country for hydrogen value chain – production, storage, transportation and supplication, large investments would be required. The private sector was expected to have financial participation from early stage to have commercially viable application. The industry was expected to play a key role in development, demonstration and utilization of hydrogen energy applications. Some fiscal incentives were proposed to attract the growth and attract investment:

1.?????Investments in hydrogen related activities as energy carrier to be notified as investment in infrastructure sector and be eligible for all tax benefits as applicable to infrastructure sector under the Income Tax Act.

2.?????Accelerated depreciation (100 %) in the first year on new investments, in development and production of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

3.?????Low interest bearing loan for setting up demonstration and production facilities.

4.????Corpus fund for development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies to be set up with contributions from the Government and also the industry. The fund to be managed through public-private partnership.

Source: MNRE (2006)

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In the roadmap, multiple technology and infrastructure gaps were identified and prioritized Action plans were proposed for implementation over three time-horizons: Immediate and short term (2005-2012), medium term (2013-12017) and long term (2018-2020 and beyond). To translate the goals identified in the Roadmap, a well-structured and co-ordinated National Programme on Hydrogen Energy was proposed.

However, the National Programme was never taken up. And the targets of 1 million fuel cell vehicles and 1000 MW of decentralized hydrogen-based power generation by 2020 to create large demand for Hydrogen production has remained a distant dream.

Post the Paris Agreement in 2015, the steering committee constituted five subcommittees in 2016 to review the status of the previous initiative wrt. Hydrogen and provide action plan till 2022. The five Sub-Committees of the Steering Committees were on the topics of (i) hydrogen production (ii) fuel cell development (iii) transportation through hydrogen fuelled vehicles (iv) hydrogen storage and other applications (v) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), safety, standards, Public Private Partnership (PPP), awareness and Human Resource Development (HRD).

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Several research Institutes have been working on Hydrogen production through different technologies viz.

·???????Gasification of Renewable Biomass and its Reformation (IISc Bengaluru)

·???????Electrolysis of Water (BARC, CSIR-CECRI, Indian Institute of Science and Technology- Hyderabad, Centre of Fuel technology- Chennai, SPIC Science Foundation -Chennai)

·???????Bio-Hydrogen Process (IIT Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology – Hyderabad, MCRC- Chennai)

·???????Thermochemical splitting of water (BARC, ONGC Energy centre, IIP Dehradun, IIT Delhi)

·???????Photo-catalytic and photo-electro routes (Indian Institute of Chemical Technology- Hyderabad, Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology – Bhubneshwar, Yogi Vemana University- Kadapa, SRM University- Kancheepuram, Shiksha 'O' Anusandhan University- Bhubaneswar, centre for material and Electronics Technology, Pune

·???????Others like Non-thermal plasma assisted direct decomposition of hydrogen sulphide/ Photocatalytic degradation/decomposition of Nuclear Waste, Organic waste etc ( BARC, IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras, CSIR-CECRI, IICT Hyderabad, C-MET)

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The estimated cost of the R&D projects was Rs. 85 Core (~US$11.4 million) only till 2022. In addition, 5 mission mode projects for scaling up and commercialisation of Hydrogen projects was suggested at an estimated cost of Rs. 170 Cr and two fundamental research project at the estimated cost of Rs. 30 Cr. The total estimated cost, till 2022, for these projects for hydrogen production was thus Rs. 285 Cr (~ USD 38.2 million)

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Another team of experts were formed under the steering committee to develop report on “Projectisation of few themes on Hydrogen energy and fuel cells”

The experts team proposed 8 projects for taking up in a mission mode in the 2016–2021-time frame as follows:

1.???????????Hydrogen – Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) fuelled bus demonstration in select city bus fleet;

2.???????????Hydrogen fuelled internal combustion (IC) engine bus demonstration;

3.??????????? Design and development of 20kW Low Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (LT-PEM) fuel cell with high indigenous content;

4.???????????Design and development of indigenous type III carbon composite cylinders for compressed hydrogen storage;

5.??????????? Indigenization of high strength steel cylinders for high pressure ground hydrogen storage;

6.???????????Augmentation of the Testing and Certification facilities for HCNG and hydrogen fuelled vehicles at the existing centre(s) of automobile testing;

7.???????????Three-wheeler / auto running on hydrogen fuelled IC engine using alloy hydride / intermetallics for hydrogen storage;

8.??????????? Wind energy-based electrolyser for hydrogen and oxygen production for cryogenic rocket propulsion.

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These projects were proposed to be implemented by MNRE and partner organisations from government, public/private sector and academia. A focused project management set up is proposed to achieve the performance targets and time schedule

The total estimated budget proposed was only Rs. 328.30 crores for seven projects. Budget for another project was left to be determined later. It was proposed that a Programme Group for hydrogen energy and fuel cells be created in one of the MNRE centres, which can eventually grow into an autonomous centre. The Programme Group, was proposed to have both functional divisions in different aspects of hydrogen energy and fuel cells as well as project management teams. An annual budget of Rs. 20.00 crores for the Programme Group were proposed.

Creation of an independent Hydrogen Safety Authority (HSA) at the national level with jurisdiction on all safety aspects related to hydrogen energy and fuel cells, was also suggested to support project implementation. The successful projects were expected to lead the nation to operational hydrogen energy and fuel cell ventures in PPP mode from 2022.

However, the reality check is disappointing. The success in development of Hydrogen production, as indicated by the number of commercialisations of Hydrogen production technology, has been very limited.

Currently, India consumes more than 6 million tonnes of Hydrogen per annum (TERI 2020), i.e. about 8.5 % of global demand, mostly in refining, ammonia and steel (NITI Aayog, 2021) Steam Methane reformation (SMR) is the established technology worldwide. In India too, more than 99% of Hydrogen produced is through this process. The process is carbon emitting and Hydrogen produced through this process is tagged as ‘grey’ hydrogen. With the current global focus on decarbonization, the world is trying to wean away from grey hydrogen towards more carbon-free hydrogen. Thus, no research lab in India seem to be working on the SMR technology.

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In alkaline water electrolyser, BARC technology is available for commercialisation with a capacity of 10Nm3/hr or ~10.6 kg per day considering 24 hrs operation. CSIR-CERCI developed a Proton -Electron Membrane (PEM) based water electrolyser under a MNRE funded project during 2003-2006. Subsequently, they have developed 1 and 5 Nm3/hr capacity PEM water electrolyzer under 11th 5-year plan CSIR project during 2012 and the technology has been transferred to M/s Eastern Electrolyser, New Delhi. However, these electrolysers are suitable for small, lab scale applications. The commercial scale requirement is much higher – in the range of 2-4 tonnes per day. The scaling-up of the developed technologies would need collaborative approach between labs and industries, with suitable incentives from Government.

Talking of incentives, the sum total estimated cost for the mission projects, for R& D and for the projects proposed by the Experts group in the 2016 reports amount to more than 600 Cr. ?Till 2022. However, as per official figures, a financial support of around Rs. 100 Crore (~USD 13 million) was provided between 2010 and 2020 to research institution, academia and industry. To put in perspective, the US funding for Hydrogen has been more than USD 700 million for the period 2016-2021.Two points to highlight here, First, the amount of funding is meagre in terms of the amount which the other nations with interest in Hydrogen is spending and second, – the actual funding has been much less than the planned indicating that the pace of most of the initiatives have not been as expected.

Third Wave ?

The third wave coincides with the announcement of National Hydrogen Mission by the Finance Minister during her budget speech in February 2021. As a background to this, the International Energy Agency (IEA) presented “The future of Hydrogen” report to Hon’ble Minister, New and Renewable Energy in 2019. Following that, a committee was formed to examine the relative merits of hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.?This committee, in February 2020, presented their report to Hon’ble Minister and it was decided that MNRE will develop a draft Hydrogen Mission document with clear quantifiable deliverables for the short, medium and long term.

Finally, on 4th January 2023, Cabinet approves National Green Hydrogen Mission. The Mission aims to make India a Global Hub for production, utilization and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives.

Official statements say that the Mission will help in India becoming energy independent and in Decarbonisation of major sectors of the economy. The initial outlay for the Mission will be Rs.19,744 crore, including an outlay of Rs.17,490 crore for the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT) programme, Rs.1,466 crore for pilot projects, Rs.400 crore for R&D, and Rs. 388 crore towards other Mission components.?MNRE will formulate the scheme guidelines for implementation of the respective components.

The Mission will result in the following likely outcomes by 2030:

·???????Development of green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonne) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country

·???????Over Rs. Eight lakh crore in total investments

·???????Creation of over Six lakh jobs

·???????Cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports over Rs. One lakh crore

·???????Abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions

Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT), two distinct financial incentive mechanisms are expected targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of Green Hydrogen.?Other key focus include support to pilot projects in emerging end-use sectors and production pathways, development of Green Hydrogen Hubs, Standards and Regulations framework, a public-private partnership framework for R&D (Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership – SHIP) and coordinated skill development programme

India’s energy ecosystem was waiting for this Cabinet approval since the announcement of the National Hydrogen Mission by the finance minister in her budget speech in February 2021. Later, on the Independence Day, 15th August, Hon’ble Prime Minister further declared the Nation’s ambitions to become a global hub for green hydrogen production. The very next month, in September, The Quad, comprising of Australia, India, Japan and the United States announced a new partnership on clean hydrogen. The Government’s upbeat mood on Hydrogen has been matched by the industry – with Reliance and Adani announcing huge investments in Hydrogen and Public Sector Enterprises like NTPC, IOCL and GAIL announcing pilot projects. With the cabinet approval, we hope to see more action on the ground for Hydrogen.?The industry will invest only when they see the demand for Green Hydrogen picking. Fixing the green Hydrogen purchase obligation is the first crucial step towards that – that part is still awaited.

Seems the World is ready for Hydrogen this time, we cannot afford to miss the bus this time!