The paper “India’s opportunity for a strategic shift in global energy trade” by Alvarez & Marsal analyses the competitiveness of various global regions to produce green hydrogen. While there are other forms of low-carbon hydrogen, the focus of this paper is on the green version, which is produced using the electrolysis route with renewable energy. This is expected to be one of the dominant routes for low-carbon hydrogen production. The paper analyses 10 countries for their competitiveness in the sector and gives recommendations for what India must do to scale up.
Over the last two years, there has been a lot of excitement about low-carbon, or green, hydrogen. The excitement has been spurred by increased focus on climate change along with sharp reductions during the last decade in the cost of renewable energy, which is a major cost driver of green hydrogen. Despite the high cost of low-carbon hydrogen today, it has much to offer for the future. It is the most visible pathway to bridge the gap to net-zero emissions.
For India, green hydrogen could define an inflection point in our energy journey. Thanks to its vast renewable energy resources and favourable ecosystem, India for the first time could be a supplier of scale in the global energy trade. Over the next two decades, hydrogen could fundamentally change the contours of the energy supply chain, which will have implications not only for the economy but also for geopolitics. India should, therefore, weigh in on this with the utmost seriousness and be prepared to take bold measures to capitalise on this opportunity.
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