Hydrogen Fuel Cells

India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and Greenstat Hydrogen India will collaborate on establishing a Norwegian Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen in India and supporting the development of green hydrogen technologies.

The Indian energy thinktank and the US-based consulting firm will research to demonstrate the viability of hydrogen as a sustainable solution for India’s energy needs. 

Researchers from India’s Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) have developed a coordination polymer based catalyst for hydrogen production that exhibited exceptionally high durability for 70 hours at a high current density of −300 mA/ cm2.

The government is acquiring lithium mines abroad to ensure raw material availability for electric vehicle battery production. Among other technology alternatives for EVs, it is looking at developing indigenous hydrogen fuel cells with hydrogen derived from biomass.

The state-owned power producer has invited global Expression of Interest (EOI) for supply of hydrogen fuel cell based electric buses and cars—ten each—for pilot projects in Delhi and Leh. The last date for submission of EOI is May 15.

Fuel cell systems provide sustainable electricity using hydrogen gas without the need of grid power as required by conventional battery backup systems, making them highly useful for applications like Emergency Operation Centres which need to respond immediately during an emergency situation with state-of-the-art communication systems.

The winning startups will receive lab-to-market incubation support at the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC), which has been set up by the not-for-profit platform Social Alpha with support from Government of India and Tata Trusts in Delhi.

Panellists including a government representative and a member of the chief policy thinktank used by Narendra Modi agreed coal will continue as the staple source of Indian power into the mid century and technology should be employed to ‘clean’ it.

A 50% fall in the price of Lithium-ion battery packs—to $76/KWh from $156/KWh today—will make the capital cost of electric vehicles lower than combustion vehicles. However, to realise the full benefits of EVs, it is important to charge them with clean power and not fossil power.

Project development and value chain localization are the focus areas for cooperation between the two countries.