Sri Lanka’s hydrogen entry kicks-off today

Sri Lanka’s entry efforts towards the hydrogen fuel era will be kicked-off today in Colombo.

“We are not looking at an immediate energy supply here –rather, the first step in our transition to modern energy Hydrogen in the medium to long term as we realise that energy independence is more and more crucial” said Nawaz Rajabdeen, UNIDO National Director for Sri Lanka.

Rajabdeen announced this in the aftermath of welcoming the international hydrogen experts team that will move the first ever hydrogen energy confab in Sri Lanka on 4 October.

The experts, Dr Lalit Mohan Das (Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi & 2012 Govt of India-Lockheed Martin Innovation Growth award winner on hydrogen tech), Dr Nikolaos Lymberopoulos (UNIDO-ICHET Associate Director) and Dr Frederico V Campbell (UNIDO-ICHET Senior Project Engineer) arrived in Colombo on the morning of 03 October. Joining the welcome with Rajabdeen was the UNIDO Rep for India & Regional Director of South Asia, Ms. Ayumi Fujino who arrived from Delhi.

The cross national and institutional team will move the first Sri Lanka hydrogen awareness and future road map confab tomorrow 04 October with presentations from the Sustainable Energy Authority, the DFCC Bank, ADB, BoI, UNIDO ICHET(Istanbul), UNIDO(Delhi), EU Delegation-Colombo, and the Indian Institute of Technology are among the presenters at tomorrow’s deliberations. Among the topics at the confab are Renewable energy agenda of Sri Lanka, hydrogen energy storage methods, Delhy-3W Hydrogen 3-wheelers project, UNIDO India activities in the clean energy field, EU activities in the renewable energy field and hydrogen initiatives, funding opportunities for renewable energy in Asia, credit facilities in the field of renewable energy and hydrogen projects in Sri Lanka,  and investments opportunities in Sri Lanka for renewable energy and hydrogen.   

Dr Nikolaos Lymberopoulos (UNIDO-ICHET Associate Director) revealed: “We believe that Hydrogen has strong future potential for Sri Lanka. The importance of hydrogen fuel is that, unlike many other energy sources such as electricity, hydrogen can be stored for future use or even for overnight use. In the US, commercially used hydrogen fuel is generated from fossil fuels and natural gas (hydrocarbon gas) found in deep undergrounds close to coal and oil deposits. But for a developing country such as Sri Lanka, rather than such costly alternatives, a renewable source such as solar power of wind power (called as feedstock) could be easily used to generate hydrogen fuel for commercial purposes.”  Dr Lymberopoulos will be talking about Hydrogen energy storage methods at tomorrow’s confab.

 “There is no doubt that working hydrogen tech is now with us” said Professor Mohan Das. “Our pilot projects in Delhi clearly showed the non-polluting, green potential of hydrogen fuel. As for Sri Lanka, we are looking at medium and long term hydrogen prospects but it could be even reduced to intermediate term depending on how keen Sri Lanka is. The initial entry costs are high but once regular supply is established a kilo of liquid hydrogen would cost between $ 3 to $ 15. Our Indian tests established that we can do more than 80 kilometres of driving with one kilo of liquid hydrogen produced at a maximum cost of $ 17.”  Professor Mohan Das will address his experience on the Indian hydrogen pilot programme which used Mahindra three wheelers called as DELHY-3W Hydrogen Project.  The world’s first hydrogen powered three wheeler ‘HyAlfa’ was unveiled in India in January 2012 by Mahindra & Mahindra. At mass production levels, the hydrogen powered tuk-tuks were estimated to cost only 12% in comparison to standard three wheelers used there. Mahindra’s HyAlfa’s reported 80 Km mileage for just one Kilogram of hydrogen.  

“The Hydrogen and Renewable Energy conference tomorrow is the first step in formulating Sri Lanka’s hydrogen road-map. Another objective being the use of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for wider hydrogen implementation in the country” revealed Vittorio Coco, Consultant and Adviser of Sri Lanka Hydrogen project.