India with developing economy has population of 1.3 billion people and per capita energy consumption is about 0.6 tonne of oil equivalent (TOE) as compared to World. The average of the TOE is 1.8 tonne.
Today, India has about 18% of the total world population but we consume only 6% of the world’s primary energy. We need to increase our energy consumption at least 4 times to get into the upper middle-income country clubs. Now, if this requirement increases, we will need energy that is clean and indigenous to keep the environment clean in terms of Green House Gases and save foreign currency.
Our primary aim should be to seek suitable clean energy to meet the energy targets. We all know, India imports a humongous amount of crude oil primarily for the energy needs of vehicles, industry thermal heating and manufacturing chemicals.
According to last year statistics, India spent about 100 billion USD to import crude oil. The country exported goods total of about 220 billion USD and imported a total of 250 billion USD which includes crude oil import of 100 USD. Now if somehow, we can reduce the import of crude oil, we can change the balance of payment scenario on its head. India and the world are on the threshold of technologies. The world has done significant developments in space technologies. We have seen space tourism boost in the recent past. This has resulted in the research and development of fuels. World giant, Tesla has introduced technology in EV (Electrical Vehicles) which is hugely successful. We Indians need to take cues from all this and somehow take a step to reduce our energy imports. Crude oil usage is primarily in the following sectors:
1. Vehicular fuels
2. Thermal fuels for industry
3. Chemical and fertilizer manufacturing
In addition to these three usages, India also uses coal as fuel to generate power. We make about 250 GW power by coal and about 280 GW of power by the solar route. This means, of the total power generation, 60% of the power generation comes from Solar the route has tremendously reduced greenhouse gases and Carbon print but a lot is needed to be done to reduce carbon footprint especially with increasing energy demands.
Now, with this background, here is what India should do to become energy sufficient and return to its glory which once we had.
1. Adopt EV as national policy
We need to have a time-bound government policy to replace all the vehicles with Electrical. Today, sufficient technologies are available for the batteries to be lasting more than 1000 Km ride. Sufficient investment is required for the battery charging stations. Today, buses trucks, cars, and even trains can be worked out on EV technology. It’s time India has a national policy on EVs. Charging of the batteries can be done by installing more Solar Power Plants. Hydrogen cells technology is also available to charge the batteries automatically. Five minutes of fill of Hydrogen can change the battery for more than 2000 Km ride. We will save a huge amount of foreign currency by this step, and we will make our environment clean.
2. Research, Development and implementation of Hydrogen based Technologies
Huge work is done worldwide to use hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles. Brands like Toyota, BMW, Range Rover, Jaguar, GM etc. have already invested in hydrogen fuel cell technology. Earlier Hydrogen was very difficult and dangerous to store. But now as technology is available to store hydrogen, flood gates have opened to use this technology. This is a clean technology with water as a byproduct. Hydrogen can be produced by coal gasification known as Brown Hydrogen and that produced by water is called Green Hydrogen. If produced by Natural Gas, it’s called grey Hydrogen and when produced by hydrocarbons, its’s called Blue Hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most acceptable gas for tomorrow for thermal use as it results in no carbon footprint. We are thus positioned to have negative GHG emissions to restore our glaciers, forests and ambient temperatures.
India has already taken a leap with the first Hydrogen mobility project signed by NTPC and REL with UT of Ladakh to produce hydrogen in Leh with the help of solar energy of dedicated 1.25 Mw solar power station.
3. National Policy to adopt Coal Gasification
For Industrial Thermal needs we can substitute by-products of crude oil by-products of crude oil by Coal gas. Now, this is an interesting claim. India has about 300 billion of coal reserves. Our Hon’ Prime Minister has a vision to gasify 100 billion of coal up to 2030.
If we achieve this target, we can hugely reduce import of crude oil and save India’s substantial amount of foreign currency. Our country strongly requires a national policy to implement Coal Gas as an essential commodity for thermal need of the industry. Today, technologies are available which are clean and pollution-friendly which can be easily implemented to substitute the Coal Gas from oil or natural gas.
For chemical and fertilizer industry, Syngas made from coal through gasification can be easily used. Sufficient technologies are available and should be implemented. India has taken a small step in this by announcing Talchar Fertilizer Plant to be Coal Gasification based. This is an important and significant step in this direction.
Coal based power plants results in lot of GHG and there is a way to reduce this factor also. If the power plants are coal gasification based, we can produce syngas in which H2 to CO ration can be more than 2:1. This will tremendously reduce the carbon prints and put India comfortably in line with the Paris accord signed by our Hon’ Prime Minister.
So, to cut the long story short, if India adopts EV, Hydrogen and Coal Gasification as a national policy we can change the Balance of payments 180 degree. It must be a transformation with result-oriented targets. Yes, we can achieve it. Imagine, if you can buy 75 dollars in one Rupee. Let’s get started!!!
By Roger Kumar, Founder and Managing Director, CASE Group