Hydrogen is an important resource in our quest towards a cleaner India. We all know that it is clean and efficient enough, to replace the use of fossil fuels in certain scenarios. The conventional way of producing hydrogen can be harmful to the environment, however. About 95 per cent of the world’s hydrogen is produced using an energy-intensive process that requires fossil fuels to be burned. This means, the hydrogen that we receive, comes at the cost of a heavily negative impact to the environment.
Organisations around the world are however working out ways to create hydrogen using greener processes. Coined as ‘Green Hydrogen’, this hydrogen will be created using renewable energy sources entirely. Let us see in detail how these projects can help the world with a greener future.
Europe – In a bid to produce more than 4 gigawatts of capacity in the next 10 years, the European Union country of Spain has invested $10.5 billion into green hydrogen technology. They are hoping to use this hydrogen to power their shipping and trucking industry with the end goal of reaching zero emissions. These electrolysers, which are the main way of producing hydrogen in this process, will use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. When hydrogen is burned in a fuel cell the oxygenation, in turn, transforms it into water. Through policies and benefits of geography, Spain has become a proponent of renewable energy. The Spanish landscape allows renewable energy to be sustained through wind and solar production. Currently, the country has access to 62 GW of renewable energy, and they are planning to push the limits to move away from dependence on fossil fuels completely.
South America – The first green hydrogen project in South America was recently launched in Chile. This project known as HyEx is a solar farm capable of producing 2,000 MW of electricity. About 1600 MW of that electricity will then be used in the electrolysis process to create approximately 1,24,000 tons of compressed green hydrogen gas every year. This will also be used to feed ammonia plants responsible for outputting around 7,00,000 tons of green ammonia annually. Half of this ammonia will be used for green fertiliser production and the export market.
South-East Asia – When it comes to investment in green hydrogen technology, both Korea and Japan are leading the way. Industrial giants in both countries are making way for the rest in hydrogen fuel cell technology. This research is being funded in hopes of creating a future method of clean transportation. Since the hydrogen market is still in its infancy, none of the available options in clean transportation is currently as popular yet. With current energy trends, however, we can be sure that the future of using automobiles supported by green hydrogen is near.
As a semi-renewable fuel, green hydrogen has great potential to change how the world functions in terms of using energy. We are gradually being pushed forward with discoveries and innovation in the energy sector. Green hydrogen is another feather in our cap in powering a sustainably cleaner future for us all.