⚡ The Reality Behind Green Hydrogen
Countries across the world are trying to crack green hydrogen production. But is it worth all the effort?
2022 has been a great year for green hydrogen.
In January, Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries finally cracked how to transport green hydrogen (which needs to be stored at ultra-low space-like temperatures).
In February, India introduced its very own green hydrogen policy.
And in March, Toyota unveiled its hydrogen-powered car that is now being tested on Indian roads (you can read more about the car here).
But what exactly is green hydrogen and why is everyone obsessed with it?
The Hydrogen Rainbow
Green, blue, grey, pink, and even turquoise.
No, we're not listing our favourite colours.
We're listing the different types of hydrogen.
Yeah, this colourless gas comes in different colours, depending on how it is generated.
Currently, the most commonly used form of hydrogen is grey. But this further adds to pollution.
So, the world is trying to move to green hydrogen: which will be derived using water and solar energy. The only byproduct: water vapour.
Plus, using solar energy to produce hydrogen will also solve the problem of the storage of renewable energy, which has been bothering people.
Sounds great, no?
But as usual, there's a catch.
This process to create green hydrogen is complex and expensive.
According to the International Energy Agency, producing 1 kg of green hydrogen can cost anything between $3-$7 right now. On the other hand, grey hydrogen costs around $0.7-$2.5/kg.
But why such a huge difference?
Producing green hydrogen requires two things: electrolysers and solar energy.
Now, for most of the world solar energy is still too costly.
So, it doesn't make sense to use it to produce hydrogen.
Even in India, where solar electricity is the cheapest, green hydrogen prices would still not be viable because of the high costs of electrolysers.
And this is just the production cost. The cost of storing, transferring and integrating it into manufacturing processes will be even more.
This is why the government of India has launched its National Green Hydrogen Policy to make the production of this green fuel cheaper and more sustainable.
India's National Green Hydrogen Policy
Any green hydrogen plant set up before 2025 will get cheaper renewable energy for production, won't have to pay interstate taxes on the transmission of power and be given storage facilities near ports to store the excess fuel for free for 30 days and possibly even export it.
And all of this is valid for a 25 year period.
India's two biggest businessmen, Ambani and Adani, are already sold on the idea.
Ambani has even gone so far as to claim that he will provide green hydrogen for less than $1/kg by 2030.
So, are all problems solved?
Umm, no. These are just the problems on the production side. When it comes to using hydrogen, there are a new set of problems.
The Hydrogen Use Case
India has set a target of producing 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year by 2030.
But where will this hydrogen be used?
Well, we do currently use 6.7 million tonnes of hydrogen every year but half of it is used in creating fertilisers and the other half in refining oil and petroleum.
But with more people now going for organic fertilisers and India looking to cut down oil exports, hydrogen use in this sector will probably reduce soon.
It can also be used in manufacturing steel and cement (this is the biggest use case for green hydrogen and can cut down carbon emissions immensely) but this has never been done before so there's uncertainty about whether this experiment will work out or be sustainable.
What about transport?
Well, we already have cheaper eco-friendly options there: CNG, biofuels and EVs.
So, introducing the more expensive hydrogen makes no sense.
Umm, we can power our homes?
Producing hydrogen to meet even a quarter of our needs would use up more energy than we currently produce and would require an investment of $11 trillion.
So, where do we use this green hydrogen?
That is the million-dollar question right now.
Governments across the world are currently focused on incentivising as many green energy projects as possible.
But at the same time, they also need to find the proper use cases for the green energy sources they are backing.
Committing to producing 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen, when we may not need it, will only lead to wastage of time, energy and taxpayers' money.
Do you think hydrogen is the fuel of the future or is it just a distraction?
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