In an insightful discourse at WEF on India's sustainability drive, industrialist Gautam Adani says that green hydrogen could play a pivotal role as the country transitions out of fossil fuels and adopts green practices to keep its net zero pledge
Billionaire Gautam Adani, the head of the Adani Group, emphasised the pivotal role of green hydrogen in India's pursuit of net-zero carbon emissions in a blog post for the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 16. Adani suggested that the current high cost of green hydrogen could be reduced by adopting a model similar to the successful one employed in the solar power sector.
Adani has emphasised that India needs to transition to renewable energy and green hydrogen to achieve energy security and improve air quality in urban areas. Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water using renewable electricity and is free of carbon emissions. This clean fuel can be used in various industries, such as steel and oil refineries, and can also be used in automobiles, generating water when burned.
Although renewable energy has made significant progress, it relies on specific weather conditions, making green hydrogen a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Adani stressed the importance of reducing renewable energy production costs faster than green hydrogen to ensure viability.
Addressing the cost concerns, Adani suggested that vertical integration, where a company manages all upstream and downstream activities associated with its primary offering, could significantly reduce green hydrogen production costs. He acknowledged the high current cost of green hydrogen and stressed the need for its reduction.
Adani advocated for India to leapfrog to renewables and green hydrogen, avoiding the replacement of one fossil fuel with another. Drawing a parallel with the decrease in solar costs, he highlighted the potential for replicating this success in the green hydrogen sector. Adani referenced the remarkable drop in the cost of electricity generated from solar panels, from ₹15 per kilowatt-hour in 2011 to ₹1.99 per unit in the present, making it the lowest in the world.