Experts see burning hydrogen as an option to decarbonize gas turbines by replacing natural gas with hydrogen
Round-the-clock power fuelled solely by renewable energy may be close at hand, with the Union government planning pilot projects to operate solar and wind power bundled with power from green hydrogen.
The Union power ministry is expected to assign state-run NTPC Ltd and Coal India Ltd to run the pilots, two officials familiar with the matter said.
“There was an initial round of talks with all stakeholders on bundling solar and wind power, along with power generated through the green hydrogen-backed gas turbine. They are expected to take concrete shape soon,” one of the two officials cited above said on the condition of anonymity.
Since electricity from solar and wind power plants is intermittent, they need backing from a more stable power source, such as battery storage or thermal power for uninterrupted supply. Existing round-the-clock (RTC) green power projects in India are largely bundled with thermal power. The planned pilots will be cleaner than the previous RTC projects as thermal power will be replaced by power from green hydrogen-backed gas turbines.
A regular gas turbine-based power plant uses high pressure and heat to spin the turbine. Experts see burning hydrogen as an option to decarbonize gas turbines by replacing natural gas with non-polluting hydrogen.
For NTPC, this would be another significant move in the renewable energy space. Last week, the firm invited expressions of interest (EoI) from Indian and global firms to set up a pilot project for hydrogen production using electrolyzers.
Coal India, too, has been on a diversification spree, with recent forays into solar power and coal gasification. The pilot project would be another step in its diversification process as it plans to reduce dependence on its core fossil fuel business.
Queries sent to the ministries of power and coal, NTPC and Coal India remained unanswered till press time.
Deepesh Nanda, chief executive of GE Gas Power South Asia, said that with power from hydrogen-based gas turbines, power plants could ensure a higher power load factor, which means more electricity at a given time compared to conventional energy sources.
Ganapati D. Yadav, national science chair of the Science and Engineering Research Board, said that using green hydrogen would also lower the cost of power and, eventually, tariffs. “Solar, wind and hydrogen are the major components of the government’s renewable energy targets, and hydrogen is likely to constitute 25% of India’s renewable energy supply in times ahead,” he said.
India currently has an installed renewable energy capacity of 159.949GW, which is nearly 40% of the total installed power capacity in the country. However, the Centre plans to reach 500GW of renewable energy capacity by 2050 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2070.
Since the government’s announcement in August 2021 to develop a Green Hydrogen Mission, developments have gained momentum in the space, with several industry giants and renewable energy companies, along with public sector power and oil and gas companies announcing plans to produce green hydrogen.
In February, the renewable energy ministry released the National Green Hydrogen Policy, promising cheaper power, a fee waiver for inter-state power transmission for 25 years for projects commissioned before June 2025, land in renewable energy parks, and mega manufacturing zones to help industries wean themselves off fossil fuels.
The policy, aimed at promoting green hydrogen and green ammonia, also spoke of facilitating the ‘banking’ or storage of green power, where a green power producer can save surplus renewable power with an electricity distribution company for up to 30 days.
Source: livemint
