A surge in commodity prices may delay India’s green hydrogen dream

The recent surge in commodity prices may delay India’s dream of faster adoption of green hydrogen as a substitute for fossil fuels.Credit rating agency Icra said in a study released on Thursday that the surge in fossil fuel prices (primarily crude oil and coal) and metals have raised the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) production by 3-4 times. The spurt in commodity prices has brought LCOH at par with that of green hydrogen (~US$5/kg). Today, around 98 percent of hydrogen (grey or blue) is produced by using fossil fuels.The prices of fossil fuels (crude oil and coal) and base metals such as copper, aluminium, and zinc, have jumped by 40-100 percent and stabilized at elevated levels since the beginning of this year.The global drive toward green hydrogen adoption is dependent on the decline in its electrolyzers’ cost at least by around 50 percent (to LCOH of US$2-3/kg). However,…

Read more…