Paul Rodden • Season: 2024 • Episode: 329
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 329, The Adani group looks to invest big in India’s hydrogen development, and Colorado looks to hydrogen to help them achieve their goal of being a fully renewable state by 2040 I’ll go over all of this and give my thoughts on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Transcript:
The Adani group looks to invest big in India’s hydrogen development, and Colorado looks to hydrogen to help them achieve their goal of being a fully renewable state by 2040 I’ll go over all of this and give my thoughts on today’s hydrogen podcast.
So the big questions in the energy industry today are, how is hydrogen the primary driving force behind the evolution of energy. Where is capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally, and where are the best investment opportunities for early adopters who recognize the importance of hydrogen? I will address the critical issues and give you the information you need to deploy capital. Those are the questions that will unlock the potential of hydrogen, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
In an article in entrepreneur Adani group to invest $9 billion in its green hydrogen business. Adani Group is planning to invest USD 9 billion in manufacturing and transportation infrastructure in the first phase of its green hydrogen venture. The move aligns with India’s promise to reduce its emissions to net-zero by 2070. As soon as the production process starts, Adani group will hire specialized ships to export green hydrogen to Europe and some Asian countries. “This is the most decisive entry into green hydrogen being planned by any group in the country,” according to an official.
Along with this, Adani New Industries Ltd., will likely create 7,500-10,000 new jobs externally, particularly in the logistics sector. There will be four-five different phases involved in the project, as per another source cited in the report. In the first phase, the plan is to achieve a capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of green hydrogen. Around USD 4 billion is set to be invested in manufacturing components and equipment required to operate the plants, stacks and balance of plant (BoP) in the process of production. The group aims is to develop 1/2 mtpa in the coming two-three years before moving to 1 mtpa.
“Transportation of green hydrogen is an elaborate task that needs a separate focus,” informed an official. The Adani group plans to use its ports on the west coast of India to transport green hydrogen to European and Asian countries. He added, “The end users of green hydrogen will mostly be government and municipal entities.” It will mainly be used in operating buses, trains and metro. The move will help in fulfilling the government’s mission to replace 40 per cent of hydrogen consumption in the country to green hydrogen by 2030.
Okay, so a massive hydrogen investment by the Adani group in advancing hydrogen production in India, and it would seem like a full supply chain investment, with production, transportation and utilization being accounted for now. Obviously, the $9 billion will be allocated over the next several decades. And for what I can gather, the Adani group is looking at this process to develop slowly, to align with India’s 2070, Net Zero plan, and with a scope as large as they are planning this develop will take several years to get off the ground, but it sounds like they’re laying down the proper framework to get things moving. And I look forward to seeing India’s hydrogen economy grow.
Next in an article in The Denver Post Judith Kohler writes, state assesses geothermal hydrogen power to help make Colorado 100% renewable. Colorado’s goal is to get to 100% renewable energy by 2040, and state officials are looking to geothermal and hydrogen power as important pieces of making the transition. New state reports say geothermal and hydrogen offer significant opportunities to build on the energy provided by wind, solar and batteries as the state, utilities and communities strive to reduce the effects of climate change. The reports review the potential for tapping more of the energy sources in Colorado as well as the benefits, challenges, economics and mechanics.
The newly released analyses are one of the steps laid out by the Colorado General Assembly in an effort to increase the use of renewable energy sources. Another was expansion of the former Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s duties to include regulation of geothermal energy. The agency, renamed the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, has proposed rules for what is expected to be a growing industry in the state. The first hearing is Aug. 5. “We’re going to be 80% renewable by 2030 and 100% by 2040,” Gov. Jared Polis said. Solar and wind will always be the workhorses in the quest to move from fossil fuels, Polis said. But once fuel sources reach roughly the mark of 85% renewables, there will be a need for “firm, 365-day, 24-hour supply” to replace natural gas, he added.
“It’s playing around in that 10% to 20% that we need to be above and beyond solar, storage and wind,” Polis said. Again, according to polis, New, smaller nuclear power generators are being advanced in some quarters as a possibility. Polis is especially bullish on geothermal. “There’s enormous potential, largely because of our seismology. We happen to have great subsurface heat in Colorado.” In his term as chairman of the Western Governors’ Association, Polis led an initiative encouraging geothermal development in the West. The group’s report “The Heat Beneath Our Feet” said the U.S. accounts for 25% of the world’s installed geothermal energy capacity and the West contains 95% of that capacity.
According to the new state report, the areas in Colorado with the highest potential for producing electricity from geothermal resources, due to the high temperatures of underground water, are: the Upper Arkansas Valley, Raton Basin, Piceance Basin, San Juan Basin, and a spot in the Denver Basin in the eastern part of the state. While most of the state east of the Front Range has the lowest estimated thermal resource, methods can be used to make geothermal work there, too, the report said. Colorado has long drawn on its many thermal springs for direct geothermal energy.
Pumps tap underground heat to both heat and cool buildings. Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, said the response to the state’s geothermal grant program was heartening. The state awarded $7.7 million in grants in May to 35 projects across the state. Denver company Gradient Geothermal received $100,000 to assess the feasibility of developing a thermal energy network by converting oil and gas operations in the Pierce area in eastern Colorado. Toor said grants will be used for preliminary studies into using geothermal for electricity in Steamboat Springs and at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “To get the funding, they had to show a pathway to financing” for the projects, Polis said.
Geothermal companies have explored working with oil and gas operators in Colorado and other Western states to use geothermal resources to generate electricity. Oil and gas wells are sometimes repurposed to draw water for plants where hot liquids drive generator turbines. Toor said oil and gas fields in northeastern Colorado could also be good places for geothermal resources. “There is a significant possibility of oil and gas workers taking the skills they have today and using them in geothermal electricity production, even in similar locations.” While Polis is also excited about using hydrogen as a carbon-free fuel, he acknowledged that there is some controversy around the resource. Hydrogen is viewed as a way to “decarbonize” shipping, steel-making and other heavy industrial uses.
Hydrogen is used in petroleum refining, to make fertilizer, in rocket fuel and to power vehicles. Some of the controversy around hydrogen stems from the fact that most of what is currently used comes from fossil fuels. NovoHydrogen, a startup in Golden, produces “green” hydrogen, which uses renewable energy to power electrolysis, a process that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The U.S. Department of Energy selected NovoHydrogen to participate in one of seven regional hubs for the development of hydrogen as an energy source. The federal Inflation Reduction Act contains tax credits for green hydrogen projects. Xcel Energy-Colorado proposed blending hydrogen with natural gas in its plants to decrease emissions and potentially burn 100% hydrogen.
Polis said hydrogen, like natural gas, can be volatile chemically, but in different ways. The state, utilities and companies will have to explore what changes might be needed to existing pipelines to ensure safe shipment of hydrogen. “We’re getting data, the science around exactly what we need to do to make it a safe or safer than natural gas,” Polis said. Okay, so Colorado is looking to go completely renewable by 2040 and that is a lofty goal to say the least, and honestly, I’m not sure that they’re going to be able to make that happen, but I do like the mindset of utilizing several forms of energy generation.
I believe geothermal is extremely underutilized in the US, and paired with electrolyzers, will enable that stored energy to become mobile in the form of hydrogen. And I also like that the organizers of this endeavor are looking to transfer skills from oil and gas and apply them to geothermal. Now on their concerns of hydrogen development, safety will always need to be a top concern, and so with many pipeline companies now testing embrittlement and hydrogen concentrations, those questions surrounding pipeline transportation will start to get answered sooner rather than later.
All right, that’s it for me, everyone. If you have a second, I would really appreciate it. If you could leave a good review on whatever platform it is that you listen to Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, YouTube, whatever it is, that would be a tremendous help to the show. And as always, if you ever have any feedback, you’re welcome to email me directly at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. So until next time, keep your eyes up and honor one another.
Hey, this is Paul. I hope you liked this podcast. If you did and want to hear more. I’d appreciate it if you would either subscribe to this channel on YouTube, or connect with your favorite platform through my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day.
