By Staff Correspondent
Airbus aims to gather ‘green hydrogen’ from India as part of its decarbonisation efforts. The company also intends to source it from Australia and Latin America. Airbus is presently working on a hydrogen-powered fuel-cell engine for its zero-emission aircraft, which is expected to be ready by 2035. India, Australia and Latin America have been seen as potential supply centres owing to the economic viability of producing renewable energy.
Green hydrogen is produced through low-carbon or renewable energy sources, ranging from wind to solar. In contrast, grey hydrogen can be made from fossil fuels such as natural gases. Currently, grey hydrogen accounts for the majority of the global hydrogen market. Green hydrogen is an effective solution to decarbonise sectors dependent on oil, gas, and coal.
However, the production prices have been much higher than other kinds of hydrogen. But, in collaboration with HyPost, Airbus has partnered to build a low-carbon hydrogen production and distribution facility at the French airport of Toulouse-Blagnac. This facility is expected to be operational by 2023 and is touted to create 400 kilograms of hydrogen daily, which would be adequate to power 50 ground transportation vehicles.
“One of the key activities that are underway at Airbus is to make sure that when we have a hydrogen aircraft available, we also have green hydrogen at airports. So, we are doing a lot of work with different airports and energy providers all across the world to make sure that green hydrogen is available at the right price when we need it,” said Glenn Llewellyn, Vice President Zero-Emission Aircraft at Airbus on these developments.
“We are looking at… how we can get hydrogen from places like India, Australia and Latin America, where we think the cost of hydrogen production is really interesting, and what the value chain will be to get that hydrogen to other regions of the world where maybe it’s more costly to produce locally.” The Airbus VP Zero-Emission added.
Airbus sees India as a significant market in green hydrogen production. Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the National Hydrogen Mission on 15 August 2021 to make India a global industry leader in this sector. India intends to produce 5 MT of green hydrogen as part of this project by 2030.
