Someshwer Dutt Sharma, CTO, of Gensol is of the view that 'infrastructure bottlenecks in terms of land and water' could be hurdles as India attempts to scale the task. “Green Hydrogen means you have to generate power from solar and wind," he said, which are inherently variable in nature.
Currently, the government does not allow 100 percent of the energy banking, making it difficult to run the electrolyzer for 24 hours. “Few states have given banking for only a certain percentage,” he said, adding that these states allow energy banking activity for energy storage for only a few hours daily.
Secondly, the prime requirement for green hydrogen projects will be derivatives. Hydrogen transportation is complicated, so companies transport derivatives like Ammonia. The companies also,"need confirmed off-takers.” said Sharma, “SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India), in its tender, has provided confirmed buyers, mostly fertilizer companies.
They need Hydrogen for their products. The state and centre are to identify the confirmed off-takers and make policies or obligations, like those in the renewable sector, for mandatory purchase.
Government can help with the availability of land for ports and water availability,” Sharma said. Strengthening the banking (of energy) policy is also required. Industry insiders also believe that the high cost of production, for the reasons given by industry experts, leads to a lack of viable domestic demand.
So, policy interventions such as tax exemption, subsidy, lower interest rates, etc, are the need of the hour. Pipeline infrastructure is an investment the government will have to make. Dedicated storage facilities and logistics infrastructure will also be required for derivatives like Green ammonia and green Methanol.