Hydrogen still "immature", says solar energy company, Fortum's chief

Hydrogen market in India "is still immature" and "may take some time to evolve," Manoj Gupta, Vice-President - Solar (India and Asia), Fortum India, has told the Economic Times newspaper in an interview. 

Fortum is a Finnish energy company which has solar power plants in India. 

In response to a question on the company's investments plans in 'hydrogen', Gupta observes that several companies across India are evaluating the green hydrogen future and have announced their immediate plans for the next 3-5 years. "However, we believe that the market is still immature and may take some time to evolve." 

He has also said that the industry is still waiting for the government to release the Hydrogen Mission document and has urged it to do so early. When the document is released "hopefully, we will see the action in the market."

He says: "We will definitely be part of this list of investors that catalyzes the green hydrogen revolution in the country."

Gupta tells Economic Times that transportation and storing of hydrogen in cryogenic conditions in liquid tanker trucks is a big challenge in India, a hot country. The energy required to store in cryogenic conditions "would take up as much energy as the supply itself". 

He offers a solution, in the form of "gaseous trailer tubes", which, he says, are trailers shaped like tubes that store hydrogen at "incredibly high pressures". This, he says, is "definitely more feasible than cryogenic tankers". 

The best, however, is to consume hydrogen where it is produced, Gupta says. 

Comment

Gupta's views lend support to the idea of 'rooftop hydrogen' or 'distributed hydrogen' production, using small electrolysers. Consuming hydrogen at locations not far from the production centres solves a lot of problems of transportation, which is fraught with challenges. Transportation of hydrogen in pipelines has been offered as a solution but that again calls for the development of special materials to make the pipes, because hydrogen is a highly reactive element and would soon cause 'embrittlement' of the metals the pipes are made of.