Green hydrogen makes a debut

Rapidly bringing down green hydrogen costs is clearly a laudable national goal and worthy of government support

Till January, hydrogen featured as an afterthought in all energy-related discussions in India. It, however, caught the attention of policymakers when the finance minister in her Budget speech in February set aside Rs 800 crore for a Hydrogen Mission. At the Reliance annual general meeting (AGM) in June, Mukesh Ambani said that as part of the group’s “new energy” vision, Reliance would bet big on hydrogen and set up fuel-cell and electrolyser factories to produce green hydrogen. Markets suddenly got excited about hydrogen. Then, on August 15, the prime minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort added to the