Green Hydrogen - Issue #78
India is readying green hydrogen storage, battling severe air pollution, and the government said it wants to move farm demand to renewables – and keep coal for non-solar hours.
News of the week
Gearing up for a Hydrogen boom
India is readying green hydrogen storage, bunkering and refuelling projects at Kandla, Paradip and Tuticorin. The country also wants to set up 5.8 million tonnes of green ammonia capacity. Much of this is in anticipation of starting green hydrogen exports to Europe. Other private ports – like Gopalpur – are following suit as well. The list of private firms making these investments is interesting. It extends beyond ubiquitous Adani and includes names like Acme, Avaada, Statkraft and Jakson.
One wonders about these investments, though. Hydrogen is an expensive gas to transport. It’s cheaper to transport it as Ammonia – but questions about energy efficiency pop up there. As this paper says, the energy costs of Ammonia synthesis and cracking are considerable. The fundamentals of this hydrogen expansion need a closer look, one thinks. For now, see this report on India’s financial incentives for green hydrogen. This report is about the need for strict carbon accounting rules to ensure green hydrogen isn’t produced by burning coal.
Drought pushes power demand in Karnataka
Low rainfall in Karnataka has resulted in a spike in rural power demand as farmers use borewells to save their kharif crops. It’s a double whammy. “In September 2022, demand from pumps was around 900 million units but it shot up to 2,000 million units this year,” reported India Today. “At the same time, hydel reservoirs were running low on storage, leading to a generation loss of 2,970 million units, or four per cent of the state’s annual demand.” The government said it wants to move farm demand to renewables – and keep coal for non-solar hours. And yet, it is also adding 10-12 GW of new thermal capacity by March 2024.
SC defers Adani hearing to Nov 24
The Supreme Court deferred its hearing on Adani-Hindenburg to 24 November, drawing protests from Prashant Bhushan and resulting in a small spike in the company’s share prices. The group hit headlines after India's political opposition flagged its monopoly in the port sector, asking “how Adani became the largest ports operator without engaging in any competitive bidding and with the help of government raids on owners of private ports - who miraculously decided to sell their assets thereafter to Adani.”
The Gujarat police got into the fray as well, summoning OCCRP’s Ravi Nair and Anand Mangnale to Ahmedabad. The SC stepped in and granted interim bail to the two reporters.
The group was in the news this week as it looks to raise upto $4 billion for its green hydrogen plans, following the exit of Total Energies from their joint project.
South Africa's endeavour to 'undo kleptocratic wrongs'
The infamous Gupta brothers of South Africa have lost their coal mines – they will become state property yet again. Seeking to undo kleptocratic wrongs, these hearings are interesting. Read the reports produced by its Commission of Enquiry into State Capture here.
Meanwhile, in India, Rahul Gandhi met employees at Singareni Colleries and chatted about privatisation. Watch the video below:
In other news
Air quality in North India continues to spiral.
Solar module prices have touched their lowest prices ever. Gas trading volumes fell last week.
India plans to slash import duties on EVs priced between $25000 (Rs 20 lakh) and $35,000 (Rs 28 lakh). The market is seeing growth at lower price points – and so this move is expected to mostly benefit Tesla.
India and Bangladesh have opened a new thermal power plant near the Sundarbans.
Chile has joined the International Solar Alliance – the 95th country to do so.
Watch | US sanctions on Russia affect India’s plans to invest in Vostok
Say hello to Honda Motocompacto Honda has launched a foldable e-scooter. It looks rather cute
Climate Long Reads of the week
1. Can Tamil Nadu accelerate into the future with electric vehicles? (The Hindu)
2. How Russia Evaded the Oil Price Cap (Foreign Policy)
3. Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2023 (Climate Policy Initiative)
4. Who is accountable for the disease, disability and death India’s deadly air pollution triggers? (A three-part series at The Wire)
5. Rising temperature, changing rainfall pattern take a toll on coffee plantations in Kodagu (Indiaspend)
6. Bangladesh climate envoy: ‘We want to be climate adaptation leaders, not victims’ (Thirdpole)
7. After successive floods, Pakistan is forced to consider resilient housing (Thirdpole)
Book of the week
We are now reading scientist Michael Mann’s The New Climate War: The fight to take back our planet.
This book on climate disinformation has started promisingly, alluding to how the old template through which lobbies and rogue scientists cast doubts – and thus delayed action – on DDT, tobacco and plastic pollution is now being used by oil and gas corporations. Here is a video where he talks about the book.