'India should have strategy that's focused on its strengths'

India is on the cusp of energy transition and perhaps so is GE Vernova - graduating from fossil fuel to cleaner forms of energy.JEFFREY GOLDMEER, director, Energy Transition Technology Strategy and Global Hydrogen Strategy Leader, for GE Vernova, a spinoff of GE's energy businesses, throws light on blending hydrogen with natural gas for lower emissions, something relevant for India, where around 24 gigawatts of gas-fired generators run at very low utilisation for much of the year. In a video interaction with S Dinakar, Goldmeer also illustrates how gas-fired generators can be the third leg of an energy storage tripod, with the other two being battery and pumped storage. Edited excerpts:

- JEFFREY GOLDMEER

You have mentioned the global demand for hydrogen in your paper of around 70 million tonnes. Where does India stand in this global demand?

It's (hydrogen demand) closer to about 100 million tonnes a year. The US and China tend to sit around number one and number two, the US makes about 10 million tonnes a year. India produces about 6 to 7 million tonnes a year. So, that makes 6 to 7 per cent of total, global production. India also imports a significant amount of what I'll call hydrogen derivatives. It imports urea and ammonia.

What is the growth in demand for hydrogen?

Globally, we see massive hydrogen growth over the next 20plus years. The question depends on what we mean. If we really want to be producing hydrogen "with low carbon intensity by adding carbon capture or using electrolysers, those methods anywhere in the world struggle to gain a foothold.

In terms of green hydrogen, India has ambitious targets of lower costs and 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen production annually by 2030.

It's an interesting question, these 2030 targets at a specific price point. If we look at the US, it has a $1 per kilogram target by 2030.