Editorial 1: India’s green hydrogen challenge
Recent Context:
- On India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the National Hydrogen Mission to make the country a production and export hub of green hydrogen.
- This mission was approved by the Union Cabinet on January 4, 2023 with an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore ($2.3 billion) over the next five years, aimed at producing 5 MMT (million metric tonne) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW (giga watt) by 2030.
Hydrogen as a fuel
- Hydrogen, the most common element in nature, exists only in combination with other elements, and has to be extracted from naturally occurring compounds like water (which is a combination of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom). Hydrogen is a clean molecule, but the process of extracting it is energy intensive.
- While hydrogen’s potential as a clean fuel source has a history of nearly 150 years, it was only after the oil price shocks of the 1970s that the possibility of hydrogen replacing fossil fuels came to be considered seriously.
- The sources and processes by which hydrogen is derived are categorised by colour tabs.
- Hydrogen produced from fossil fuels is called grey hydrogen, which constitutes the bulk of the hydrogen generated today. Hydrogen generated from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage options is called blue hydrogen, while hydrogen generated using electrolysers powered by renewable power sources is called green hydrogen.
Production-based coding of hydrogen
Greem hydrogen generation is mainly focused by government
- However, government’s mainly focus is on green hydrogen as it has the potential to maximise decarbonisation of the energy sector and the use of energy in end-use sectors such as transport, buildings, and industry.
- While the stated benefits of the National Mission are galore — savings to the tune of $12.5 billion from fuel imports, averting 50 MMTs of annual emissions of Carbon dioxide, fresh investments to the tune of $100 billion, and 6,00,000 green jobs, there are several challenges too.
The critical challenges related to green hydrogen:
- The challenges to produce and use green hydrogen can be classified into 4Es electrolysers, energy source, end use and endogenous resources.
Electrolyser challenge:
- According to IEA (International Energy Agency), as of 2021 the global manufacturing capacity of electrolysers stands at 8 GW/year.
- So, if India were to achieve its 2030 target, it would need anywhere from 60-100 GW of electrolyser capacity, which means almost 12 times the current global production capacity.
- India currently has launched projects to manufacture electrolysers, but the actual numbers as of today are negligible. Also access to critical minerals such as nickel, platinum group metals and rare earth metals such as lanthanum, yttrium and zirconium could hinder scaling up electrolyser manufacturing capability in India.
- These resources are concentrated in countries such as China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Peru. India also has limited processing capabilities in these minerals.
- This challenge would entail India setting up largescale manufacturing, building expertise and securing geo-political partnerships for procurement of critical minerals, and improving overall technical and economic viability of electrolysers year-over-year while competing with other global players.
Energy source challenge:
- As per current estimates a completely efficient electrolysis system would require 39 kWh of electricity to produce 1 kg of hydrogen. This is, however, a laboratory tested figure and a typical operational figure is about 48 kWh per kg of hydrogen.
- Green hydrogen requires renewable energy as a source of electricity. India currently estimates a capacity of 125 GW of renewable energy to meet its green hydrogen 2030 targets, which would be in addition to the already proposed targets of 500 GW renewables energy capacity. So far India has only achieved 119 GW of the 175 GW targeted capacity using solar, wind, bio-power and small hydro.
- In addition to the generation capacity, the transmission capacity that includes a smooth facilitation of cross-border exchange of power between states is a critical requirement. Overall, this challenge would require India to add efficiently and economically close to 100 GW of overall renewable energy capacity per year over the next seven years and make available dispatch corridors and mechanisms
End use challenge:
- Currently, most of the demand for hydrogen comes from the chemical industry to produce ammonia for fertilisers, followed by refining for hydrocracking and the desulphurisation of fuels.
- It can be a source of heat for industry, especially in hard to abate and electrify sectors such as steel, cement and aluminum production. In the transport sector, it can be used as fuel for heavy duty vehicles, aviation and shipping. The conversion efficiency from one form of energy carrier to another in the end use application will determine the scale of green hydrogen’s applicability.
- For instance, where electricity can directly serve the purpose, having alternative energy carriers for the same use case would not make technical or economic sense. Hydrogen is a highly combustible and volatile element and its potency in other forms such as ammonia or methanol is only relatively reduced. If one were to look at green hydrogen being produced and stored in different forms for later use, it is critical to establish safety standards for storage and transportation, adding to the cost of hydrogen as a fuel.
Endogenous resources challenge:
- It has been estimated that the production of one kg of hydrogen by electrolysis requires around nine litres of water.
- Moreover, in the case of India, an independent assessment suggests a requirement of approximately 50 billion litres of demineralised water supply.
- As several parts of India are already severely water-stressed, solutions need to be found to cater to this additional water demand.
- While desalination has been suggested, this will not only increase the physical footprint of the required infrastructure, but also potentially add to competition for land use, impact biodiversity and create challenges and limitations in the location of electrolysers.
- This challenge would require the proposed green hydrogen hubs to strike a fine balance between being renewable energy rich, water resource rich and being close to hydrogen demand (end-use) centres for them to be economically feasible while keeping the additional costs minimum.
Conclusion
- In 2020, the world produced around 90MMT of hydrogen. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that hydrogen and its derivatives will account for 12 per cent of global final energy consumption by 2050 (IEA estimate 530MMT), with two-thirds coming from green hydrogen.
- Currently, the global levelised cost of producing green hydrogen ranges between Rs 250-650/kg ($ 3-8/kg) while India aims to produce green hydrogen in the range of Rs 100-150/kg ($ 1-2/kg) by 2030.
- This would mean India will have to address all the challenges listed above as well as coordinate across multiple institutional bodies both public and private in record time. This is undoubtedly a steep uphill task but a moonshot worth undertaking for India!
Editorial 2: Centre blocks 200 online platforms under Section 69(A) of IT Act:
Recent Context:
- Recently, The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently issued orders to block 138 online betting platforms and 94 money lending apps on an “urgent” and “emergency” basis under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
- The decision was based on a recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which had received inputs from central intelligence agencies that some of the sites and apps were allegedly linked to China and contained “material prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India”.
What is the danger posed by lending apps?
- Over the past three years, several police complaints have been received of extortion and harassment from people who borrowed small amounts through such money-lending apps, often at exorbitantly high interest rates.
- In December 2020, DNM Santosh Kumar, a native of Visakhapatnam, died by suicide allegedly after facing harassment by lending apps. Similarly, the Cyber Police Station of Pune received 699 complaints of loan app crimes in 2020. The number increased to 928 in 2021. As many as 3,151 complaints were filed against the loan app operatives till August 2022.
- Following this, the MHA started investigating Chinese loan-lending apps and found out that while only 94 are available on e-stores, others are operating through third-party links or websites.
What is Section 69 of the IT Act?
- Section 69 of the IT Act allows the government to issue content-blocking orders to online intermediaries such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom service providers, web hosting services, search engines, online marketplaces, etc.
- However, the Section requires the information or content being blocked to be deemed a threat to India’s national security, sovereignty, or public order.
- As per the law, If the Centre or state government are satisfied that blocking the content is “necessary” and “expedient” on grounds of
- “sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India,
- security of the State,
- friendly relations with foreign States or public order or
- for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above or for investigation of any offence,”
- it may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, direct any agency “to intercept, monitor or decrypt or cause to be intercepted or monitored or decrypted any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource,”
What is the procedure to block such apps?
- Since 2009, the MeitY has possessed blocking powers similar to those of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
- Although MeitY derives these powers from the IT Act, it is the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 or the IT Rules, 2009, which explain the process to issue such orders.
- The IT Rules include provisions such as review committees, the opportunity for a fair hearing, strict confidentiality, and maintenance of records by designated officers.
What have the courts said?
- In a landmark 2015 ruling, the Supreme Court in “Shreya Singhal vs Union of India” struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act of 2000, which entailed punishment for sending offensive messages through communication services, etc.
- “Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is struck down in its entirety being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved under Article 19(2),” the Court held.
- The plea had also challenged Section 69A of the Information Technology Rules 2009, but the SC held this to be “constitutionally valid”.
- “It will be noticed that Section 69A unlike Section 66A is a narrowly drawn provision with several safeguards.
- First and foremost, blocking can only be resorted to where the Central Government is satisfied that it is necessary to do so.
- Secondly, such necessity is relatable only to some of the subjects set out in Article 19(2).
- Thirdly, reasons have to be recorded in writing in such blocking order so that they may be assailed in a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution,” the Court noted.
- The debate over Section 69A was revisited in July 2022 when Twitter sued the MeitY in the Karnataka HC over blocking orders that failed to adhere to the procedural requirement of giving users a hearing.
- In response, the Centre told the HC that Twitter was a foreign corporation and did not have any fundamental right or legal remedy. After that, Twitter clarified that their arguments under Articles 14, 19, and 21 were in relation to the rights of the citizens who had Twitter accounts.
- On February 8, the most recent date of hearing in this matter, the Centre questioned Twitter’s locus standi to argue the fundamental rights of account holders and also questioned what the jural relationship between Twitter and its account holders would be.
Conclusion:
- As Section 69(A) of IT Act empower the central government to block those apps which are threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity and also breach the data privacy of the customers.
- Therefore, it balance the freedom to digital platform along with reasonable restriction however banning of apps should be carried out after proper investigation by cyber team in vested interest of customers and without any political motive.