Sikkim banks on green hydrogen for future urbanisation

To protect tourism, Sikkim is banking on its strengths – hydel power to prepare green hydrogen. (Source: Hari-Shrestha/Unsplash)

Sikkim is jointly exploring the feasibility of developing a hydrogen smart city in the state, with the Korea Research Institute of Human Settlement (KRIHS) and the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC). As the state rapidly urbanises, the government is trying to develop the Greater Gangtok area as a pilot green hydrogen smart city. At a recent conference on Hydrogen Smart City Network in Delhi, Karma R Bonpo, secretary in the commerce and industries department, of the government of Sikkim, exhorted the visiting delegation from South Korea to visit this state of just six lakh people but with a hydropower potential of 8,000 MW, to assess its capacity to produce green hydrogen.

This plea was significant for many reasons. Though less affected than other Himalayan states such as Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, home to the mighty Kanchenjunga, is also facing the adverse effects of climate change. This includes retreating glaciers, changing precipitation patterns, increased temperature, shifts in the habitats of plants and animals, water scarcity, impact on agriculture, increased soil erosion and landslides, bio-diversity loss, health impact and effects on the tourism sector of the state. By experimenting with green hydrogen cities, it is preparing a blueprint for its own new urban agglomerations. This could serve other hill cities as well in the future.

To protect tourism, its cash cow, Sikkim is banking on its strengths – hydel power to prepare green hydrogen. This makes it self-reliant. So why would the Korean agency be interested? South Korea has perfected many technologies to produce hydrogen in the country and also created very visible proofs of concept in municipal uses, but it lacks either wind, solar or hydel power enough to keep its hydrogen production green. India, with an abundance of all three renewable energy sources, is a perfect partner to scale up the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives. Sikkim’s proactive stance makes it one of the early beneficiaries of Korean expertise and funds.

Hill city solution

Sikkim, with its small population, has a better chance to find implementable solutions to the problems of Himalayan cities, and could well become a prototype for various other cities. By plugging into the green hydrogen movement at just the right time, this prototype could be replicable across the Himalayan cities, that are currently facing an existential crisis. With its hydel power potential, Sikkim may also become the green hydrogen hub across the North Eastern states as well.

The problem of the remoteness of its terrain and the lack of access are very similar to that of Ladakh and it makes better economic and operational sense to create green hydrogen hubs in the remotest villages close to the borders, rather than to create distribution and transmission lines for traditional power.

G20 Declaration

As Bonpo said at the Green Hydrogen Cities conference, Sikkim was working in the spirit of the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, for implementing clean, sustainable, just, affordable and inclusive energy transitions. The G20 committed to supporting the acceleration of production, utilisation and development of transparent and resilient global markets for hydrogen produced from zero and low-emission technologies and its derivatives such as ammonia. The G20 high-level voluntary principles on hydrogen aimed at developing voluntary and mutually agreed harmonising standards and mutually recognised and inter-operable certification schemes to build a sustainable and equitable global hydrogen ecosystem that benefits all nations. India has taken the initiative to establish the Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre steered by the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Similarly, Sikkim has taken the lead on hill states in India.

Sikkim has plugged in early to benefit from these global alliances. It estimates that in Amrit Kaal by 2047, at least 50 percent of the population will be staying in urban centres. By planning for green industries to provide jobs in these centres, Sikkim is estimating the employment potential of each growing urban centre and imparting relevant skills training for these future citizens. Unless that is done, it will be impossible to estimate the resources required to be invested there and the requirements of water, power, housing and other basic amenities in a sustainable manner.

E Jayashree Kurup is a writer-researcher in real estate and Director Real Estate & Cities, Wordmeister Editorial Services. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.