The Hydrogen Opportunity for India: A One Pager Summary
The Sun runs on hydrogen (H2), so why can’t Earth (with electrolysis)? Hydrogen is one of the cleanest, 0 carbon fuels on burning, and has 140x more energy storage capacity than a lithium iron battery, per some estimates. Current global carbon emissions are over 40-45 billion tons per annum, over 50% of which come from three regions: USA, China, and EU. These three have committed to becoming net zero CO2 by 2050-2060, a feat that would be nigh impossible without exploiting the H2 opportunity. Current hydrogen production is 70 million tons per annum (MTPA), and is expected to rise to 545-560 MTPA by 2050. Almost all of current H2 is produced using fossil fuels and is referred to as grey H2 (if there is no carbon capture) or blue H2 (if there is carbon capture). By 2050 most of it will be green H2, i.e., derived using renewable power sources like solar/ wind etc. Unlike current H2 usage which is mostly in the chemicals space, it is likely to become a clean fuel source used by Power &