Decarbonisation Technology - February 2024 Issue

designed a ‘power transfer ship’ that will carry renewable energy in batteries, this is only over short distances of up to 300km (Johnson, 2023). Hydrogen, or hydrogen carriers, remain the most effective means of transporting renewable energy over long distances. Ongoing research and development on process improvements at each part of the value chain will improve energy efficiency and economics. However, it can never eliminate the consumption of energy to transport it to where it is needed. To meet the anticipated market demand, organisations will need to invest to expand the scale of hydrogen production. Operational PEM electrolysers are typically modular units. In 2021, the Shell Refhyne project in Germany started operating with a 10 MW ITM Power modular electrolyser, with plans to expand to 100 MW (Shell, 2021). ITM Power is now building 20 MW modular units for large-scale projects (ITM Power, 2023). Green hydrogen is the most suitable production technology for applications that require high- purity hydrogen, such as for consumption in fuel cells and production of pharmaceuticals (Freedom Car & Fuel Partnership, 2009), (Cushman, 2023). As with any new technologies, standards, certification, permitting, inspection and testing protocols will need to be established. Regulatory agencies also need to agree on a certification process with guarantees of origin to assure end users and their regulators that the hydrogen has been produced using fully renewable electricity. Industry should work closely with regulators to promote local, national, and international consistency (Ohmes, et al., 2023) (Ouziel, et al., 2021). While the rise of green hydrogen will create new job opportunities, there is a need to ensure staff at every level have the necessary training and skills to handle this highly flammable gas during production, storage, and transport (Ouziel, et al., 2021), (Trendsformative, 2021). Summary The primary advantage of hydrogen lies in its potential to decarbonise industries Regulatory support can reduce investment risk

that are particularly challenging for direct electrification. Despite losses in efficiency in each additional process, hydrogen can address many of these challenges and play a complementary role in effectively decarbonising these industries. Several significant challenges must be addressed to facilitate the transition to green hydrogen. In the short term, all products based on green hydrogen will be more expensive than when the hydrogen is sourced from fossil fuels. Overall costs must factor in charges for transportation and storage of hydrogen, which could tilt the balance in favour of locally produced blue hydrogen. Furthermore, regulatory standards are not yet well-defined, and securing financing remains a major obstacle. The decreasing costs of renewable electricity, advances in the efficiency of electrolyser technologies, and increasing scale are poised to drive down the production costs of green hydrogen in the near future. Globally, green hydrogen projects are coming on stream even as technology developers work to improve scale and efficiency. Green hydrogen should become cost-competitive with grey and blue hydrogen as early as 2030, enabling it to compete economically with existing technologies for alternative fuel options and energy-intensive industries. This will lead to a transition in the range of ‘colours’ over the next decade as brown and grey fade while blue and green brighten, perhaps with tints of turquoise as pyrolysis technology is commercialised. To establish the hydrogen economy in India, decisive actions are required from policymakers, industry stakeholders, and financial institutions. Investments are needed in research and development to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of hydrogen production and its applications, to develop the trained workforce, and to build the infrastructure needed to implement and manage the emerging hydrogen economy.

VIEW REFERENCES Dr Himmat Singh drhimmats@gmail.com