A consultation deliberated on path-breaking ideas and solutions to harness green hydrogen in the state

A stakeholder consultation ‘Developing Green Hydrogen Ecosystem for Jharkhand’ was jointly organized by the Task Force on Green Hydrogen Mission, Government of Jharkhand, and Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED) in association with Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Tata Steel today. The main objective of the consultation was to sensitize the key stakeholders about the challenges and prospects of green hydrogen and bring their solution-driven perspectives and support in Jharkhand. This consultation witnessed participation from top officials from the government department and agencies and leaders from major industries, public sector undertakings, business associations, research think tanks, and techno-solutions providers from India and Jharkhand.

Addressing the conference, Mr. Avinash Kumar, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Energy, Jharkhand said, ‘The state government is committed to ensuring energy security in the state and accordingly cleaner sources of energy have been prioritized. As a form of clean energy, hydrogen is the future. Green hydrogen is considered the next big thing to fulfill the net-zero ambitions and climate-related goals in India and Jharkhand. As per the mandates of the National Green Hydrogen Mission and net-zero scenario, we are also exploring its huge potential in the state to bring its economic advantages and environmental co-benefits in the state.’

For achieving the net-zero scenario, the Government of India has launched a National Green Hydrogen Mission in 2022 and subsequently announced Green Hydrogen Policy. As a part of the mandates, the Government of Jharkhand has formed a ‘Task Force on Green Hydrogen Mission’ in March 2023 to assess the current scenario of hydrogen energy, best practices from around the globe, its applicability and suitability for the state and accordingly create a roadmap for implementing the mission in Jharkhand. The task force is chaired by Mr A.K. Rastogi (IFS Retd.) and its nominated members include senior officials from Energy and Forest departments along with Mr Partha Majumdar (Regional Executive Director, NTPC) and Mr. B. Sai Ram (Director-Project and Planning, CCL) and Mr. Ajit Dhanraj Kothari (Chief- Sustainability and Decarbonisation project, Tata Steel). CEED has been roped in as a technical partner to provide handholding support to the Task force.

The consultation also saw the gracious presence of top officials from the state government, particularly Mr. Aboobacker Siddique P., (IAS), Secretary, Department of Mines and Geology, and Mr Jitendra Kumar Singh (IAS), Secretary, Department of Industries, Jharkhand who also addressed the gathering and emphasized the need to harnessing green hydrogen for a better future of the state.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr A.K. Rastogi (IFS Retd.), Chairman of Task Force on Green Hydrogen Mission said, “Jharkhand is primarily an industrialized state with a strong presence of industries of iron-steel, transport vehicles, cement and others. Broadly these sectors are considered as hard to abate in terms of the decarbonization process, where the role of low-carbon energy and technologies is crucial. This requires a holistic approach in presenting technical know-how, infrastructure support, and ecosystem change. As per the mandates set by the Government of Jharkhand, the task force has started conducting consultations and workshops with key stakeholders to prepare a repository of information in light of the best practices to create an action plan for tapping green hydrogen in the state.”

As a form of cleaner energy hydrogen has been categorized in various categories such as grey, black, blue, and green based on its sources. At present, all of the hydrogen consumed in India comes from fossil fuels. As per the estimates of Niti Aayog and other institutions, there will be about 23 MT hydrogen demand by 2050 in India, while currently, the current output is only at 6.7 MT. However, by 2050, nearly 80% of India’s hydrogen is projected to be ‘green’ – produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis.

Lauding the state’s effort for constituting a dedicated task force to harness green hydrogen, Mr Ramapati Kumar, CEO of CEED said, “Indeed this is a pathbreaking move and CEED feels immense pride in working as its technical partner. Blessed with abundant natural resources and human capital, Jharkhand has a significant advantage in the production of hydrogen energy. However, an assessment of renewable energy sources in the state is a prerequisite for mapping out the prospects of green hydrogen. For this, a detailed techno-economic assessment is needed to know the current status, future demands, and road-ahead to capitalize the opportunities. Thereafter, the creation of a roadmap will set a new trajectory of industrial development with sustainability principles and decarbonization at the core of every step.”

The workshop had two technical sessions ‘Development of the hydrogen ecosystem to enable sustainable growth’ and ‘Initiatives by industry on hydrogen- challenges and opportunities’, which presented several key ideas and recommendations to create a green hydrogen ecosystem through production, storage, transportation through utilization of cleaner sources of energy. The key ideas and solutions presented were; futuristic industrial & manufacturing planning, demand-management measures in the circular economy, energy-efficiency improvements, GHGs inventorisation, environment, social and governance compliances, harnessing carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies, deployment of new innovative technologies by collaborative R&D, capitalizing of carbon credit and market, arrangement
of climate financing, and developing longer-term roadmaps for the state.

The workshop witnessed the participation of top leaders of the industry, public sector undertakings, business associations, sustainability think tanks, the MSME sector, and techno-solutions providers from India. The notable people include Mr. B. Sairam, Director, CCL, Mr. Rajiv Mangal, Vice President- Safety, Health and Sustainability, TATA Steel; Mr. Jagabatha Ningthoujam, Principal, Rocky Mountain Institute-India, Mr. DMR Panda, GM, NTPC, Mr. Jaideep Malik, Business Development, Hydrogen, John Cockerill, Ms. Kajol, Sr. Manager, Industrial Decarbonization, Energy, WRI, Mr. P. C. Jha Chief Manager, Environment, CMPDI, Mr. Anand Kumar, Head, Policy Affairs and Project Development, Hygenco, etc. and representatives from academia and research institutions. The conference also witnessed participation from key government dept & agencies, prominent public sector units e.g. CCL, BCCL, CMPDI, NTPC, and leading corporates like Tata Steel, and Tata Power among others.