In recent years, India has proven itself ahead of the curve in its openness to hydrogen fuel cell technology. As reported last year, Indian telecommunications giant GTL has turned to fuel cells to power over 27,000 of its telecommunications towers. Now the Indian government has issued a draft report looking into fuel cells as a way of greening India’s polluting transport and stationary power sectors.
The report, ‘Hydrogen energy and Fuel Cells in India—A way forward’ is available here and open for comments until June 20th. It was commissioned by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The report recommends incentivising industry to participate in demonstration projects for commercialising hydrogen, arguing that India needs to technologically ‘leapfrog’ its competitors to reach international parity. It suggests a budget of Rs.750 crore (equivalent to £80 million pounds) over the next five years.
For now, these fuel cell goals are largely about building capacity and public awareness in India, but they will set the country up with the knowledge and capacity required to scale-up hydrogen infrastructure in the coming decades.