Coal Ministry organises Seminar on Blue Hydrogen-Energy Security & Hydrogen Economy
“Considering abundance of coal availability in the
country, it’s time to act on the diversified use of coal to ensure energy
security of the country to support Government’s decarbonising mission”,
stated Amrit Lal Meena, Secretary, Ministry of Coal while
delivering the key note address on “Blue Hydrogen-Energy Security
and Hydrogen Economy” organised by the Ministry here today. The
Secretary said that the session must deliberate on the technologies available
for coal to hydrogen, cost competitiveness, global experience and the way
forward strategy. He further mentioned that the recommendations of the
committee constituted by the Ministry of Coal to identify actionable points for
coal sector to support Green Hydrogen Mission should be deliberated and action
plan finalised. Meena also advised to constitute an Advisory Committee in
the Ministry with all experts to deliberate on the subject in a regular manner
to promote gasification.
In his welcome address, M Nagaraju, Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Coal outlined the policy initiatives taken by the Ministry to
promote coal gasification to meet the energy demands of the country in a
sustainable way.
Debasish Nanda, Director BD CIL and Chairman of the committee presented
the committee report on the Green Hydrogen Mission offering comprehensive
analysis of the current status, challenges and future prospects of green
hydrogen production in the country.
Presentations were also made by Prof RR Sonde, IIT Delhi, Dr Ranjit Rath
CMD, Oil India Limited, Prof Arnab Dutta, IIT Bombay, Naveen Ahlawat, Head
(CCUS) JSPL, Varun Jindal, MD Dev Energy and Prasad Chaphekar Deputy Secretary,
MNRE, Rajnath Ram, Adviser, NITI Aayog also expressed his views on development
of clean coal technologies.
Panel discussion was also chaired by Debasish Nanda and coordinated by Peeyush
Kumar, OSD, Ministry of Coal. During the presentations and discussions, many
new ideas came up for way ahead strategy. The session was dedicated to
discussing the potential of hydrogen in decarbonizing steel making processes
and shared views on innovative approaches and technologies to reduce carbon
emissions in the steel industry contributing to a greener and more sustainable
future. The discussion was also on exploring the potential applications of
hydrogen in scaling Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) projects.
The program was attended by officials of NITI Aayog, Department of
Science and Technology, Department of Fertiliser, Ministry of Steel, Ministry
of Heavy Industries, IICT Hyderabad, CSIR besides officials from CIL, CMPDI,
WCL, SECL, MCL, EIL, PDIL, BHEL, SCCL, NLCIL, SAIL, RIL, TATA STEEL, JSPL, Dev
Energy, CGAI, CAPSEC and PSU watch. Discussion pertaining to development of
Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technology, which plays a crucial
role in mitigating carbon emissions also held and emphasized the importance of
sustainable practices.
The half-day session witnessed fruitful exchanges of ideas and knowledge
on future uses of Hydrogen. The Ministry of Coal remains committed to promoting
clean and sustainable energy solutions and will continue to facilitate such
discussions to drive the nation's progress toward a hydrogen-based economy.