Make Hydrogen in India: Driving India towards the clean energy technology frontier

Indian industry and government should work together to develop a hydrogen economy under an ambitious 'Hydrogen Mission' to maximise the benefits for India and accelerate the energy transition.

The energy transition in India is continuing at an unprecedented pace and scale, requiring new low-carbon technologies. However, so far, India has had somewhat limited success in capturing the manufacturing benefits of certain clean energy technologies such as solar PV and batteries.

TERI sees green hydrogen as the next 'clean energy prize', which will require coordinated action from industry and government for India to capture the benefits. In the transition to a carbon neutral economy, hydrogen can provide a supplementary role to renewables and batteries.

Hydrogen can be divided into 'grey' (produced from fossil fuels), 'blue' (produced from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage) or 'green' (produced from renewable electricity). Early demand markets for hydrogen include fuel cells for trucking, balancing supply and demand in the power sector, and replacing fossil fuels in industry. The potential scale of hydrogen use in India is huge; increasing between 3 and 10 times by 2050.

In this policy brief, we recommend the ways in which industry and government can work together under an ambitious 'Hydrogen Mission' to maximise the benefits for India and accelerate the energy transition.

For more information, please contact: ETCIndiaSecretariat@teri.res.in