CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced that policies will be formed for Green and Blue Hydrogen and Ethanol. This is in line with the Union government’s initiative to transition from fossil fuel to future fuels.
The Industries Department will draft a policy on Green Hydrogen as TN is getting many proposals for investment, said a top government official. The upcoming policy will give some clarity on Green Hydrogen.
The Union government’s National Green Hydrogen policy aims to achieve the production of five million tonnes of Green Hydrogen by 2030. Green Hydrogen is the hydrogen gas produced by the electrolysis of water, using renewable power. Blue Hydrogen is when natural gas is split into hydrogen and carbon dioxide and CO2 is captured and then stored. As the greenhouse gases are captured, this mitigates the environmental impacts on the planet.
Similarly, Ethanol policy is also being drafted to locally produce ethanol and sell it to petroleum manufacturing companies. The new Ethanol policy is in line with the Centre’s notification of National Policy on Biofuels wherein, under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Program, an indicative target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol by 2030 was laid out.
Ethanol or Extra Neutral Alcohol is one of the principal biofuels, which is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts and is also used for manufacturing alcohol for human consumption. It does not come under GST ambit and comes under Value added Tax.
While cane and maize farmers stand to benefit, there is a concern on whether the focus on biofuels could impact rice production. “The policy will aim to encourage ethanol production but at the same time would take a cautious approach,” the official said.
Shreya Gadepalli, founder and managing trustee of the Urban Works Institute, said Green Hydrogen is a promising technology to decarbonise the steel and cement sectors, but it does not make as much sense in power and mobility sectors. “Green hydrogen is expensive to produce. It takes more electricity to produce hydrogen than the amount of electricity the resulting hydrogen can produce,” says Shreya.