FORMULATION OF NATIONAL HYDROGEN
ENERGY BOARD ON THE ANVIL
MEETING
OF SCIENTISTS ON HYDROGEN ENERGY AND FUEL CELLS
The Ministry of
Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) proposes to set up a National
Hydrogen Energy Board for developing a National Hydrogen Energy
Roadmap and implement it in an integrated manner. The Board will
be headed by the Minister and Members of the Board will be drawn
from various ministries, IITs, scientific organisations and industry
associations. Eminent scientists and Members representing leading
organisations connected with this field would also be members
of the Board. This was stated by Shri M. Kannappan, Minister of
State (Independent Charge) for MNES while addressing a meeting
of scientists on development of hydrogen energy and fuel cells
here today.
Addressing media
persons, Shri Kannappan said that the Ministry would be organising
an international workshop on hydrogen energy and fuel cells later
this year. The two major areas of focus in the new technology
programmes are alternate fuels for transportation which include
electric vehicles, fuel cells and hydrogen energy as well as decentralised
production of power comprising bio-fuels, hydrogen energy, fuel
cells, geothermal energy and tidal energy. The scarce resources
of the country should be utilised in tapping the frontier renewable
energy technologies for meeting the needs of our people in the
most cost effective manner, he said.
The Ministry is supporting
various research, development and demonstration projects on different
aspects of hydrogen, including its production, storage and utilisation
as a fuel. Various scientific and educational institutions, including
CSIR laboratories, universities and industries are involved in
implementing these projects. With MNES support, innovative materials
and techniques have been developed and demonstrated for storing
hydrogen, especially for vehicular applications (two-wheelers),
power generating units and catalytic burners for domestic and
industrial applications. Small hydrogen-fueled power generating
systems have also been developed for performance evaluation in
laboratory conditions. The use of hydrogen has also been demonstrated
in catalytic converters, water pumping and cooling applications.
With MNES support,
hydrogen-based fuel cell systems have been developed and demonstrated
for stationary, portable and transport applications. R&D projects
are currently under implementation for the development of newer
types of fuel cells (such as direct methanol fuel cells, direct
ethanol fuel cells), membranes, methanol reformers and uninterrupted
power supply units based on fuel cells.
