Green Hydrogen

Context

India aspires to emerge as the leader of green hydrogen by taking advantage of the current energy crisis across the globe.

Oil India Limited (OIL) has commissioned India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen plant in eastern Assam’s Jorhat.

Hydrogen is the lightest, simplest and most abundant member of the family of chemical elements in the universe.
It is colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic and highly combustible gaseous substance.

Green hydrogen is the one produced with no harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
It is made by using clean electricity from surplus renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to electrolyse water.
Electrolysers use an electrochemical reaction to split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, emitting zero-carbon dioxide in the process.
Green hydrogen currently makes up a small percentage of the overall hydrogen, because production is expensive.

India has just begun to generate green hydrogen with the objective of raising non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030.
It was on April 20, 2022 that the public sector OIL, which is headquartered in eastern Assam’s Duliajan, set up India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen pilot plant.
Research and development efforts are on-going for a reduction in the cost of production, storage and the transportation of hydrogen.

Hydrogen can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells.
Hydrogen, thus, can act as an energy storage device and contribute to grid stability.
The oxygen, produced as a by-product (8 kg of oxygen is produced per 1 kg of hydrogen), can also be monetised by using it for industrial and medical applications or for enriching the environment.