Read more: India Energy Week: Hydrogen in its sights

Panel sessions focused on hydrogen mobility, on the road, on rail and in the skies, how hydrogen can power both the grid and off-grid life and industry, along with an interactive session devoted to the subject of how India can fast-track its hydrogen ambitions.

The first session focused on Clean Transport with Hydrogen, hearing from those within the hydrogen mobility sector. Jaco Reijerkerk, Commercial Director of Ektinetix, kicked off the session, saying that developing hydrogen infrastructure is a priority of India, however warned it will not happen overnight.

He said, “This an activity for decades. Infrastructure comes first, start by connecting to a basic grid, and running public transport buses in urban areas, and connecting main traffic corridors. Hydrogen mobility is still in its infancy.”

He said given India’s size – as it accounts for 18% of the world’s population, covers a variety of climate zones and is the third largest energy hub – it would be advisable to take a regional states approach.

“The challenges with hydrogen include raising commercial availability, improving infrastructure density and permitting is still more complex than for fossil fuel stations,” he said.

However, Reijerkerk said global ISO standards are in place for hydrogen infrastructure and vehicles; the alternative fuel regulation is place (albeit in Europe); public funding for hydrogen and zero-emissions mobility is available and the market is seeing increased activity from OEMs such as BMW, Daimler, and Volvo.

Arnab Chatterjee, Vice-President of Infrastructure at ZeroAvia, believes that India could be a key market for hydrogen-powered aviation, and mobility in general.

Chatterjee, said, “We are with preliminary talks with a number of different operators. India makes sense as mobility is growing. Most of my family haven’t been on a plane but the next generation is travelling between different states. Rail transport, as fantastic as it is, isn’t going to be sufficient for the volume and frequency of travel.

“There’s a great nascent opportunity, to be a leader in the energy transition, and then the blessings of geography mean there’s a lot of opportunity to build low-carbon hydrogen with wind, tidal, solar or hydro.

“Not only can we build the mobility side on aviation, but the supplier side can really accelerate as a complement to the other renewable pathways. We want to move the script on airports being net energy consumers to being ‘pro-consumers’, as producers and consumers.”

Prashant Singh, Chief Manager at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the state-owned aerospace and defence company, said sustainability is crucial for our future survival.

“Aviation in India is growing like anything – we’re already the third largest aviation hub, so aviation sustainability assumes special significance. We are working on electric and hydro-propulsion systems and partnering with ZeroAvia.”

On the policy front, the Indian government is supportive with hydrogen, he added, and many companies are coming up with hydrogen initiatives. “The whole industry is pushing for hydrogen in a big way,” he said.