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24 | 18TH - 24TH DECEMBER 2015 | UTILITY WEEK Markets & Trading Intelligent use of hydrogen fuel cells There have long been question marks over the role of hydrogen fuel cells in decarbonising modern society. But despite having many passionate advocates, the hydrogen economy has largely failed to take off in a big way. Recently, however, UK fuel cell manufacturer Intelligent Energy struck a £1.2 billion deal in India to fit hydrogen fuel cells on to telecoms towers via its subsidiary Essential Energy. The deal will deliver more fuel cells into the world than have previously existed and will make a major contri- bution, both to Indian economic dynamism and to national decarbonisation. The economic benefits will be realised by increasing the reliability of India's telecoms network and internet connectivity – a vital resource for businesses, which currently suffers frequent failure because of grid outages. On average, around 70 per cent of Indian telecoms towers experience grid outages for up to eight hours a day. These grid outages have caused the Indian telecoms network to become heavily carbon inten- sive because operators have sought to mitigate outage problems by fitting diesel generators to towers. These generators are thought to consume 2.5 billion litres of diesel annually. By replacing these generators with hydrogen fuel cells, Intelligent Energy hopes to make a major contribution to a low carbon "reimagined power grid" in India. It's also thought the large- scale deployment of hydrogen fuel cells will represent a big step forward in reducing the price point of the technology. Country profile ambitions for renewable, and decentral- ised energy as more sustainable solutions to its challenges. For the fiscal year 2015/16, the Indian government allocated $400 mil- lion to support the expansion of renewable energy and the country is ranked fih in EY's Investment Attractiveness Index for Renewable Energy. There are plans to install 60GW of wind power capacity and 100GW of solar power capacity by 2022 – more than six times the current installed capacities of approximately 22GW and 3GW, respectively. But the Indian government's limited budget means these goals will not be easily reached, because support is required when renewable energy is more expensive than the fossil fuel energy it replaces. A recent study by analysts at Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) found that wind power in India is already competitive, meaning the levelised cost of electricity from wind power is the same or lower than that from coal, and would not require government support. CPI therefore suggests that the government should focus on supporting rapid deploy- ment of capacity in the near term to mini- mise its cost of support. And, as solar power is forecast to become competitive with fos- sil fuels by 2019, solar capacity deployment should be scheduled such that a larger part of the deployment target is met aer that time. Collaborative approach During Modi's UK visit, the two governments made £3.2 billion-worth of commercial agreements, joint research programmes and initiatives to share technical, scientific, and financial and policy expertise. Leaders hope this will encourage the research, develop- ment and deployment of clean technology, renewables, gas and nuclear across the two nations. They also announced £10 million of joint funding from Research Councils UK and the Indian Department of Science and Technol- ogy for a new virtual joint centre on clean energy, bringing the total value of the Indo- UK clean energy research programme to £60 million. Because of its limited budget, the Indian government needs large-scale, low-cost, long-term finance to deliver its renew- able energy ambitions and wean itself off imported fossil fuels. Modi insisted London could play a major role in leveraging interna- tional capital towards this end goal. The two prime ministers parted ways, agreeing to support UK and Indian compa- nies and share expertise and experience on ways of achieving energy security and eco- nomic growth, as well as delivering a cost- effective low-carbon transition. TOP INDIA OVERSEAS DESTINATIONS, 2008-1 INDIA OVERSEAS INVESTMENT AND CONTRACTS, 2008-12 ✒ Manufacturing Finance Restaurants and hotels Agriculture Transport Construction Community services Utilities Other Source: Reserve Bank of India Source: Reserve Bank of India British Virgin Islands US Singapore Mauritius Netherlands United Arab Emirates Switzerland Hong Kong Cayman Islands UK $23bn $17bn $5bn $5bn $3bn $1.5bn $1.5bn $1.0bn $0.5bn Nearly half the population do not have access to power for 12 hours a day 70% of telecoms towers have outages of at least eight hours a day Currently, the internet contributes 1.6%, or $30 billion, to india's GDP Two-thirds or India's population is under 35 120 million people in India have internet access, just one in ten of the population THE CASE FOR TELECOMS FUEL CELLS Investments and contracts (US$bn) Singapore: 14 Mauritius: 12 Netherlands: 7 US: 4 United Arab Emirates: 2.5 British Virgin Islands: 1.5 UK: 1.5 Cayman Islands: 6.5 Hong Kong: 0.5 Switzerland: 0.4