The 'Hydrogen Energy Mission' has been announced in the budget 2021-22 recently. The mission is important for better management of energy sector and reducing carbon emissions. Since, most of the energy in India is produced through thermal power plants; the mission will be economically more viable.
Hydrogen is an alternative to clean and non-polluting fuels, with only water as a by-product. Due to its high ignition capacity it is used as rocket fuel. Production and storage of hydrogen is very expensive and difficult. Being a highly flammable gas, it can be classified as an explosive, but in a controlled environment its intense flammable capacity can be used as green energy.
The Green Hydrogen Mission is essential for de-carbonizing heavy industries such as steel and cement. The most prominent forms of hydrogen production include natural gas purification and electrolysis (the process of breaking an electric current in a chemical compound by breaking its chemical bonds) and other biological processes.
This initiative to set up green energy based hydrogen plants will help India to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. These plants will also serve as feedstock for ammonia production along with 'grid scale storage' solutions. The mission aims to promote green economy by using hydrogen energy.
Green hydrogen energy is vital for India to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions and ensure regional and national energy security, access and availability. Hydrogen can act as an energy storage option, which would be essential to meet intermittencies (of renewable energy) in the future