(Washington) – The US consulting firm FTI Consulting has presented a report for an Indian hydrogen roadmap. The target proposed is a hydrogen share of four percent in the national energy mix by 2030. Although the report has already been described as a “roadmap” by some media, it is not a government paper, but rather a preliminary step and recommendation for action that was developed jointly by numerous committees.
The White Paper focuses on analysis and proposals regarding policy approaches and partnerships between energy industry, government stakeholders and energy experts to contribute to the creation of a green hydrogen economy in India over the next two decades. The paper does not make technical comparisons between different hydrogen-based technologies.
Three paths discussed
More than 50 representatives from ministries, the energy industry, energy experts as well as multilateral organizations and think tanks met for a hearing in November. They discussed three possible paths to introducing a hydrogen economy:
- Proactive policy role with creation of incentives that supports the private sector to co-invest (with the government) in the development of green hydrogen infrastructure
- wait until 2030 with further research before taking proactive steps
- Postponing all steps to 2040 and a strategy that leaves markets to build the global green hydrogen system
Participants supported the proactive strategy. Collaboration between politics and industry as well as public incentive programs should lead to a clear plan to create national and local green hydrogen demonstration projects.
8-point plan
FTI Consulting makes eight recommendations at the core of the report. These are intended to help build India's strong position within global supply chains.
- A national hydrogen policy and roadmap should be developed and adopted jointly by government and industry in 2021.
- An “H2India” task force will be set up to develop the roadmap goals together with working groups.
- A $100 million green hydrogen investment fund will support individual measures through 2025; another $500 million hydrogen fund will be launched for 2025 to 2030.
- The goal is a hydrogen share of four percent in the national energy mix by 2030.
- Interministerial working groups develop technical and social standards and monitor them.
- Demonstration projects are coupled with practice-oriented projects, such as adding hydrogen to natural gas pipelines.
- At least ten national hydrogen projects are to be developed as large-scale projects, including a fleet of ten thousand hydrogen-powered trucks along with infrastructure for long-distance and heavy-duty transport (“H2Bharat Trucking”), as well as four port and logistics clusters associated with this project (“H2Bharat Port and Logistics "), four industrial projects in the steel, coal, mining and fertilizer sectors as well as biogas projects at the municipal level, for example in the states of Maharasthra and Gujarat.
- Tax incentives are available for industrial consortium partnerships for large-scale national H2 projects.
Orientation towards Japan, Korea and Europe
The paper recommends setting up demonstration projects primarily with a geographical focus rather than a national approach: projects are not developed where they contribute to the country's prestige, but where they are meaningful and promising. This reflects the European Union's approach of directly linking green hydrogen applications with optimal access to electricity from renewable energies. FTI Consulting also recommends that India should follow the examples of countries such as Japan and Korea in the Asia-Pacific region.
“India's Energy Transition Towards A Green Hydrogen Economy. White paper on building a green hydrogen economy and policy roadmap for India.” 22 pages, free download as PDF.
Photos
© David Castor
