by AK Tyagi, CMD, Nuberg Engineering
India is fast-tracking its green hydrogen agenda with a view to not just help the country economically and environmentally but also to enhance its leadership status on the global stage. The coal shortage resultant panic last year and the ongoing difficult navigation of geo-politics for Russian oil amid rising oil prices has been a wake-up call both in terms of continued dependence on fossil fuel and the distance we need to travel. India produces the world's fourth highest amount of carbon dioxide after China, the US, and the EU. Prime Minister Modi’s COP26 Summit declaration of “Lifestyle for Environment” (LIFE) as a campaign with goals of a net zero carbon economy by 2070, reduction of total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes till 2030 and reduction of the carbon intensity of economy by less than 45 percent by 2030 now seem timely and urgent.
India, post the pandemic shock, is now on high growth trajectory with sharply enhanced energy requirements. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari’s Parliament travel in a hydrogen-based Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle is an indication of the government’s intent to expedite the Hydrogen reality. Indian Oil setting up India’s first hydrogen filling station in Gujarat also portrays well for the sector.
NITI Aayog has in its June report recommended 10 steps to make India a global green hydrogen hub. According to Eninrac Consulting, “Hydrogen production in India shall be dominated by low-cost renewable projects like solar PV electrolysis or wind-based electrolysis. India could see the green hydrogen cost as low as $1.5/ke to $2.3/ke which shall increase its competitiveness by 2030, respectively. Thus, India shall be the next destination for global investments for green hydrogen projects.”
In this scenario, while low solar energy costs are welcome, these need to translate across the renewable energy spectrum as solar still constitutes a relatively small portion of our energy production. Lower energy cost has a linked impact on hydrogen production cost and enables a rapid move towards the critical hydrogen economy. For the hydrogen economy advantage, electrolysis is the key manufacturing process and India has a long history of industrial electrolysis expertise. Electrolysis is already extensively being used in the country for the extraction of metals (Aluminium and Zinc), and the production of chemicals. Adapting and innovating the process for hydrogen production is therefore well within the means of the Indian EPC industry focused on these sectors.
The Indian EPC industry will need to be the essential partner in both these initiatives – hydrogen economy and energy production required for it. In the last decade, the Indian EPC industry has become globally competitive and offers India a tremendous home advantage. The industry contributes about 8% of national GDP which is expected to nearly double in the next two decades (PwC’s Construction Industry Vision 2025 report). The industry has matured with the use of the latest technologies, processes, and expert talent. The Indian EPC industry also owns many technical processes necessary for attaining lower costs of production.
The other advantage Indian EPC sector provides the country is its system integration expertise. The industry has mature experience and talent that creates a seamless integration of design and construction phases for faster turnaround, and lower costs. For hydrogen generation to be at the lowest cost possible, the reduced capital cost of setting up the plant will play a key role. This becomes more significant in light of the government’s ambition to become the Global Hub of Green Hydrogen by 2030. The government projects a global annual export potential of 10.4 million tons to East Asia and the EU, amounting to nearly 20 billion USD market. The honourable Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh had declared that the aspirational goal for India is “Hydrogen 212” - Green hydrogen generation cost of less than 2 $/ kg, green hydrogen storage + distribution + refuelling cost of less than 1 $/ kg and Replacement of incumbent end-use technology with green hydrogen technology with ROI of less than 2 years.
The other aspects that the Indian government could work closely with the EPC industry are in the context of easing the path to massive rollout in the minimal time frame. Therefore, it will become important to create policy guidelines that encourage standardization and modularization in addition to enabling distributed power rather than grid-based. Technology has a way of leapfrogging traditional mindsets, and we can expect the same in the race to build the mammoth hydrogen infrastructure. It will therefore behove the country to enable easy upgradation of then obsolete modules rather than being locked into proprietary single block plants. The obvious advantage of standardization and modularisation will be a) lower costs and competitive pricing and b) the ability to set up hydrogen generation in multiple locations rather than only being locked intoGiga factories.
Linked to the distributed hydrogen generation roadmap is local power availability not necessarily linked to the grid. The hydrogen economy will force India and the world to drastically enhance the power generation capacity beyond the earlier estimates linked to population, lifestyle, and industrialisation. According to Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) producing green hydrogen will need a global zero-carbon electricity supply to increase by 30,000 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2050, on top of the 90,000 TWh needed for decarbonisation. India’s mature EPC sector will again be a key player in creating this infrastructure.
Another area of EPC industry leverage for India will be in the use of hydrogen in place of the traditional petrochemicals by combining the power of Hydrogen with the chemical industry. According to Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council “it is possible to convert renewable hydrogen into liquid fuels such as ammonia (NH3), methanol (CH3OH) or synthetic fuels (using Fisher-Tropsch chemistry). Methanol and synthetic fuels are in this scenario produced using low-carbon hydrogen on the one hand and CO2 that has been captured either from industry combustion gases or directly captured from the air. In addition to methanol being used as a transport fuel, it can also be used as a feedstock to make olefins and aromatics. Such a scenario will multiply the beneficial impact of building the hydrogen economy for the country.
We in the EPC industry are therefore truly excited by the huge opportunity for not only business growth but also to serve the nation with our contribution to building the country’s hydrogen economy and a clean and sustainable future for the people of India.
