Evaluating cost competitiveness of hydrogen production in India

Hydrogen is accelerating globally and is likely to catch up the trend in India as well

Policy and economic forces are converging to create unprecedented momentum in the hydrogen sector, paving the way for rapid deployment of and investment in hydrogen technologies. A growing number of societal actors – from youth activists to scientists to concerned consumers – are pushing for stronger policy action to more drastically limit carbon emissions. Climate change requires urgent attention: if we continue to emit CO2 at current levels, we have only ten years remaining in the global carbon budget before we breach the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold, emphasizing the need for immediate action. Governments are responding with increasingly ambitious decarbonization targets. At the time of the 2019 UN Climate Summit, 66 countries had announced their intent to meet net-zero carbon emissions targets by 2050. In the EU, regulation includes potential fines for failure to meet targets, and a Green Deal was recently announced to support the net-zero emissions target. In the US, 25 states formed the bipartisan United States Climate Alliance with a collective commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025. China has made considerable progress towards its climate policy goals of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and meeting its target of 20 per cent of primary energy demand from non-fossil fuel sources with continued investment in sustainable technologies.

Unlike previous eras in hydrogen’s development, the renewed attention on hydrogen is strengthened by a realization that the use of hydrogen will be critical if we are to meet the climate objectives. Governments are recognizing hydrogen’s ability to decarbonize sectors that are otherwise impossible or difficult to abate – such as logistics, industrial heating and industry feedstock – and its role in energy security. Meanwhile, industry leaders across the automotive, chemicals, oil and gas and heating sectors look to low-carbon and renewable hydrogen as a serious alternative to reach their increasingly robust sustainability objectives.

This renewed attention also comes as the key cost drivers of clean hydrogen have seen a sharp improvement. For instance, electrolysis fed with renewable electricity – the most common production method to produce ‘renewable hydrogen’ – has become 60 per cent more affordable as low-carbon and renewable electricity prices have dropped, and electrolysis capex has fallen. The cost of solar and wind power, the largest driver of renewable hydrogen production costs, has seen an 80 per cent decrease over the past decade. India has already drafted a comprehensive hydrogen policy which could be published formally on or before January 2022 and serve as a guide for hydrogen market development in the country.

Overview of cost-competitiveness by application

While studying the hydrogen market and contriving the report we concluded that a hydrogen supply and distribution system at scale will unlock hydrogen’s competitiveness in many applications sooner than previously anticipated. We have covered more than 35 possible application of hydrogen based upon global case studies  and over buildings, industry heat, and industry feedstock as depicted in the Exhibit. It includes both new and existing applications currently responsible for 60 per cent of the world’s energy- and process-related emissions.