Hydrogen Economy

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

Context:

Inaugural Edition of The Hydrogen Economy in New Delhi Dialogue 2021

Key Highlights:

• The Energy Forum (TEF) and the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, are organizing a Hydrogen Roundtable titled “Hydrogen Economy- the Indian Dialogue-2021” in a virtual mode on 15th April, 2021 to discuss emerging hydrogen ecosystems and exploring opportunities for collaboration, cooperation and coalition.
• The Hydrogen Roundtable, the first of its kind, will comprise a High-level Ministerial Session, followed by five Panel Discussions by eminent policy makers, experts and industry leaders from different geographical regions of the world, with focus on policy roadmaps and mapping demand and supply of Hydrogen.
• This high-level roundtable conference will be led by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Government of India who will deliver inaugural keynote. It will be followed by keynotes from Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology – UAE, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction – Australia, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities – Denmark, and  Deputy Secretary of Energy – United States, who will present their insights on policy roadmaps, and demand and supply dynamics.
• The Hydrogen Roundtable will be having 25 panelists from15 countries, discussing the potential of Hydrogen from multiple sources and its relevance in national energy transitions.

Objective:

The objective of the Roundtable is to understand the progress of Hydrogen ecosystem across continents and contribute to creating synchrony among the thinktanks,  Governments and the industry to join forces for developing innovative and sustainable technologies at attractive costs.

What is Hydrogen Economy:

• The term hydrogen economy was coined by John Bockris during a talk he gave in 1970 at General Motors (GM) Technical Center.
• A hydrogen economy was proposed by the University of Michigan to solve some of the negative effects of using hydrocarbon fuels where the carbon is released to the atmosphere (as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, etc.). Modern interest in the hydrogen economy can generally be traced to a 1970 technical report by Lawrence W. Jones of the University of Michigan.
• The hydrogen economy is an envisioned future in which hydrogen is used as a fuel for heat and hydrogen vehicles, for energy storage, and for long distance transport of energy.In order to phase out fossil fuels and limit global warming, hydrogen can be created from water using intermittent renewal sources such as wind and solar, and its combustion only releases water vapor to the atmosphere.

Challenges:

• Hydrogen is a powerful fuel, and a frequent component in rocket fuel, but numerous technical challenges prevent the creation of a large-scale hydrogen economy.
• These include the difficulty of developing long-term storage, pipelines and engine equipment.
• A relative lack of off-the-shelf engine technology that can currently run safely on hydrogen.
• Safety concerns due to the high reactivity of hydrogen fuel with environmental oxygen in the air.
• The expense of producing it by electrolysis and a lack of efficient photochemical water splitting technology.
• Hydrogen can also be the fuel in a fuel cell, which produces electricity with high efficiency in a process which is the reverse of the electrolysis of water.
• The hydrogen economy is nevertheless slowly developing as a small part of the low-carbon economy.