Indo-German GH2 Task Force

The kick-off meeting of the Indo-German Green Hydrogen Task Force was held virtually on 20 September 2022. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Vandana Kumar, Additional Secretary Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), Govt. of India and Dr. Stefanie Schmid-Lübbert, Head Bilateral Energy Cooperation, Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Govt. of Germany with the aim to highlight the market developments in both countries and foster Indo-German cooperation in green hydrogen. Participants from government, industry, and research institutes of both countries attended the meeting to give their inputs and to learn about the next course of action. 

In her welcome remarks, Dr. Kumar offered a brief overview on the developments taking place in the green hydrogen sector in India and stated that the national green hydrogen mission will be launched very soon. Dr. Kumar appreciated the collaborative efforts taken by both countries. Ms. Schmid-Lübbert followed her opening remarks by reinstating Germany’s target to be climate neutral by 2045 and to become independent of fossil gas imports as soon as possible. While recognising the short-term measures taken by Germany to reduce dependency on energy imports, Dr. Schmidt-Lübbert said that realistically Germany still showcases a high import demand of green hydrogen of up to 82 terawatt hours in 2030. In order to secure these imports, she said that several international funding programs have now been made available to India. 

Further, Mr. Dipesh Pherwani, Scientist (MNRE) presented the work that has been done in India. At present, the focus of the Indian government is on refining and ammonia production sector, he said, since both consume almost 99% of the grey hydrogen today. Shedding light on current research projects, he added that the Department of Science Technology has been running a focus program on hydrogen fuel cells for the last two years while a pilot project for running buses with a blend of hydrogen and natural gas in the capital city of Delhi has already been demonstrated and will be replicated in other cities soon. He concluded his presentation by inviting Indian leaders from industry to speak on the major electrolyser manufacturing and green hydrogen production projects they are working on. 

Mr. Werner Diwald, Managing Director of German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (DWV), took over to present on the value chain for the new hydrogen business in Germany. He resonated with Dr. Schmid-Lübbert about Germany’s dependency on imported gas and offered the costs of green hydrogen in comparison. The natural gas price in Europe today was found to be over 300 Euros per megawatt hour, whereas green hydrogen approximately costs around 130 Euros per megawatt hour. He said that while Germany has the technology readily available for the global market, what needs to be established are clear regulations for the infrastructure, production, and use of green hydrogen in all sectors. Reiterating the need for partners, he ended his presentation with the thought that if fossil energy is to be replaced with renewable energy without losing the economic and energy security then the Indo-German Green Hydrogen Task Force needs to actively discuss the complete green hydrogen system.

Mr. Tobias Winter, Director of the Indo-German Energy Forum Support Office, shared that the purpose of the task force is to strengthen the cooperation on production, utilization, storage, and distribution of green hydrogen by building frameworks for projects, stating regulations and standards, and enabling trade and joint research. He also walked the participants through the four sub working groups of the taskforce that have been created to exchange ideas on sectoral developments, identifying opportunities for joint projects and translating practical insights into recommendations for the bilateral political dialogue. It was proposed that the first activities of the task force shall be business delegations of both countries visiting dedicated trade fairs to learn about further opportunities.

Finally, Mr. Stefan Halusa, Director General and Ms. Sonia Prashar, Deputy Director General of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce shared an overview on upcoming relevant international green hydrogen trade fairs and conferences taking place in Germany and India. The active participation in those events would not only help explore the cooperation but also showcase the Indo-German strength in an renewable energy and green hydrogen based economy.