Green hydrogen ‘could bring multi-billion dollar industry to India’

The investment firm’s Green Hydrogen: The Next Frontier In Energy Transition report suggests that annual global investment will leap from $1 billion in 2020 to $170 billion between 2023 and 2050.

Over the past decade, $5.4 trillion has been invested globally in the energy transition, the report says, with 60% of the investment in renewable energy generation.

Because only one-fifth of energy consumption is in the form of electricity, however, renewable electricity alone cannot decarbonise the economy. This encourages a focus on green hydrogen, which can potentially be used across the energy value chain.

Potential industrial users include refineries and producers of ammonia, methanol and steel, while new uses could include transport (road, shipping and aviation), the iron and steel industry, and hydrogen blended with natural gas.

The report said green hydrogen was already cost-effective for some customers in India who could buy it for $4 to $8 per one million British thermal units (MMBtu), against imported natural gas costing around $16 allowing for liquefaction, sea transport, regasification and transportation through pipelines.

Oil and gas sector participants will drive green ammonia project development in the subcontinent, the report claimed, thanks to their understanding of global trade dynamics of molecules and trade ecosystems.