India can provide global leadership in hydrogen space: Jitendra Singh

The minister was speaking at the launch event of and indigenously developed hydrogen fuel cell bus developed by KPIT-CSIR in Pune, said a statement from the ministry of science & technology.

 “India can pole-vault from being net importer of fossil energy to becoming net exporter of clean hydrogen energy and thus, providing global leadership in hydrogen space by becoming a large green hydrogen producer and supplier of equipment for green hydrogen,” he said.

Singh said that green hydrogen enables deep decarbonization of difficult-to-abate emissions from the refining industry, fertilizer industry, steel industry, cement industry and also from the heavy commercial transportation sector.

He also said that the fuel cell utilizes hydrogen and air to generate electricity to power the bus and the only effluent from the bus is water, therefore making it possibly the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation. A single diesel bus plying on long distance routes typically emits 100 tons of CO2 annually and there are over a million such buses in India.

 “The high efficiency of fuel cell vehicles and the high energy density of hydrogen ensures that the operational costs in rupees per kilometre for fuel cell trucks and buses are lower than diesel powered vehicles and this can bring freight revolution in India. Moreover, Fuel Cell vehicles also give zero green-house gas emissions,” the minister said.

Lauding the joint development efforts of KPIT and CSIR-NCL, he pointed out that the technology prowess of Indian scientists and engineers is no less than the best in the world and also at much lower costs.

Observing that about 12-14% CO2 emissions and particulate emissions come from diesel powered heavy commercial vehicles and these are decentralized emissions and hence difficult to capture, the minister said that hydrogen fueled vehicles provide an excellent means to eliminate the on-road emissions from this sector.

He further said that India is also aiming to increase inland waterways for freight and passenger transport.

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