T
he Global Environmental Facility's (
gef ) governing council meeting held in Washington
dc , in early May, has approved grants totalling
us $12 million for the first phase of two projects in India and China to facilitate the use of fuel cell buses (
fcb s). Both projects are to be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (
undp ) and are the last of the five
fcb projects undertaken within the ambit of the Facility's Sustainable Transport programme. The mandate is to reduce air pollution by investing in pollution-free transportation. Earlier three
fcb projects were granted clearance in Mexico, Egypt and Brazil.
GEF Strategy to Develop FCBs, the Facility's base document, drafted in 2000, defines fuel cell technology as a "low-emission technology that electro-chemically converts hydrogen into electricity." It argues that fuel cell-driven vehicles possess several advantages over conventional vehicles for urban transport system. First of all, fuel cell stacks work most efficiently at lower levels of power output in contrast to power trains of conventional vehicles. Secondly, it functions at maximum efficiency in urban transit operations where frequent stops are necessary.
Finally,
fcbs are environment-friendly as compared to the conventional vehicles. Distilled water is the only emission from a
fcb, and they produce no particulate emissions like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide or carbon dioxide. In addition, they are much quieter than conventional diesel engines, reducing sound pollution. Hence, it is seen as a long-term solution to environmental problems, including climate change and general air pollution.
The rationale of the
gef for basing the Indian project in New Delhi is that as one of the world's most polluted cities, where the issue of vehicular pollution is vitriolic and controversial, the efficacy of
fcb could be tested fully and under the most trying conditions. Pushing
fcb s as "the ultimate solution to urban transport in India", it argues that its efficiency is twice as high as diesel buses; needs minimum maintenance; is environment friendly; and with hydrogen gas tanks can achieve a driving range of 400 km, far above that of diesel buses.
The
gef grant will support a five-year demonstration programme involving operation and testing of eight fuel cell buses for public transport in New Delhi. The grant is for
us $6.28 million for the first three buses. The support from other donors is expected to top up the total investment to
us $12.12 million, with a possible second phase of
us $16.1 million. In China, the demonstration programmes will be held in Beijing and Shanghai and the initial grant of
us $552 million will be followed up with an additional budget of
us $16.4 million for the second phase.
The
gef's role in India, as in the other four countries, is envisioned to be threefold. One, it is to act as a funder, helping to pay the incremental costs. The
gef expects its support to be complemented by significant contributions by local governments, the transport industry and private investments. Two, it would serve as a facilitator for these activities, convening the various factors and providing the foundation for a continued dialogue to accelerate the process. And, finally, it will take on the role as an agent of information by keeping everyone abreast of the latest developments in the field.
In the implementation process, it has again set aside a triple role for itself. In the first stage, the
gef will evaluate the conditions for successful
fcb operation and commercialisation. This involves assessing the strength of the local bus market, verifying local and national policies for financial support, studying the conditions for operating the buses and also the availability of hydrogen fuel supply.
During the second, the demonstration stage, the Facility will assess the operational viability of
fcb s through operational experience, providing feedback to manufacturers, firming training facilities and establishing steady hydrogen supply. The last stage is the commercialisation stage where the Facility's challenge will lie in ensuring that
fcb costs become cost-competitive with conventional diesel buses.
Blueprint for operation
According to the Facility's spokesperson, the executing agencies for the
fcb India Project are to be the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (
mnes ) and the Delhi Transport Corporation (
dtc ). The prototypes are to be provided by Ballard Power at a cost of
us $1.2 million and would be similar to those used in demonstration projects in Chicago and Vancouver, two years ago. In regular service, each bus runs on 16 hours on an average and 169 km a day, every day of the year. The first and second batches of buses will be operational in 2003 and 2004.
The best option to supply hydrogen for commercial deployment of
fcb s in India will be a central natural gas reforming plant with hydrogen delivered to the bus depots by a gas pipeline. But for the demonstration project, it was not considered practical. It has been planned instead to purchase and install at the host bus depot a packaged electrolyser unit, including high-pressure hydrogen gas storage cylinders, hydrogen compressors, and dispensers to meet the hydrogen requirement.
The bus maintenance crew for the demonstration project would be sent to the bus supplier to understand the bus structure and engine function. After the buses are delivered, technical specialists from the bus manufacture would train the maintenance crew on the job.
If the demonstration stage goes well, the plan is to buy 20 additional buses and ensure hydrogen supply by purchasing an additional packaged electrolyser unit. The cost of the
fcb s to be purchased in stage
ii would still be more than 10 times that of diesel buses. But by the time the additional 20 buses are purchased by 2007, the
fcb cost is expected to drop by three times of the diesel bus cost.
As the cost difference would still be too large for the project to proceed on a commercial basis, the
gef proposes to request the Government of India to seek finance from various sources to fund the incremental cost. This expanded demonstration will operate for two to three years.
By 2009 or 2010, when stage
iii is completed, a stage
iv will be set in motion. This would involve the initial commercialisation of
fcb s. By this time, the cost difference would be much less and the
gef is certain a tax credit or soft loan provided by the government should be able to entice the local bus manufactures to launch commercial production. It would also allow
dtc and other city bus authorities to convert diesel buses or
cng buses on a depot-by-depot basis (on the average 70-100 buses per depot) without government's financial aid. The incentive for the bus manufactures could also be provided by the increase of diesel fuel cost, tighter air emission standard, tax on air-pollution emissions or carbon emission, or a tax credit for the operation of new, more efficient buses.
Devil is in the details
Critics within the organisation, who wish to remain unnamed, are sceptical about the Facility's overwhelming faith in
fcb s. In their opinion, it would make better sense to sponsor a host of technologies rather than zero in on one as the 'ultimate saviour'.
The
fcb projects in Chicago and Vancouver, each involving three buses, on which the Facility has depended for most of its assumptions, are still very much in their embryonic stages to yield sufficient, conclusive or definite evidence, they say. The projects need to be tested fully in order for it to pass the test of replication. Several new demonstration projects have just started or are in the planning stages in California and Europe. They probably do have the potential to become cost-competitive in the next decade with diesel buses on a lifecycle basis even with the additional costs of hydrogen production, transport, storage, compression, and dispensing. But it would be wise to 'wait and watch' before jumping to conclusions, caution critics.
There is also lack of experience in operating, fuelling, maintaining, and repairing hydrogen
fcb s, which should act as a deterrent to hurried promotion of this technology, they add.
A major source of worry among dissenters is the issue of cost-efficacy. The cost gap between the current prototype hydrogen
fcb (
us $1.2 million per bus) and the conventional diesel bus (
us $250,000/bus), all manufactured to North American standards, is still formidable. Also, fuel cell stacks, the heart of the
fcb engines, at present have a life of only 4,000 hours versus 30,000 hours for diesel engines before a major overhaul is required. "One will need to have around 2,000
fcb s on the roads in developed countries to break even with the cost of North American diesel buses," calculates one critic. "In India, it would mean having about 5,000
fcb s to turn cost-competitive to the diesel and
cng buses. The Facility should ideally wait till the prices fall and there is adequate experience in developed countries in deflecting or absorbing costs," he adds.
Further, the cost of
fcb s in 2010 is expected by
undp/gef to be 20 to 30 per cent more than that of diesel buses in North America. The cost of 5,000
fcb s in India will almost be Rs 5,000 crore or
us $1 million in 2010.
Should India pay an additional
us $1 billion for 660,000 tonnes of
co 2 emission reduction -- an astonishing
us $1,500 for each tonne of
co 2 reduction!! In comparison, a tonne of
co 2 emission reduction costs only
us $15 from wind energy, and
us $50 from solar energy.
Also, in its cost-calculation analysis for the project, the
gef estimates that in the initial stage it will invest
us $6.2 million and anticipates another
us $6 million to flow from the Indian government and private investments. Similarly, in phase II, it is willing to invest
us $6 million but expects the Indian government to plow in
us $9 million; the
dtc us $ 0.02 million and private investors 1.38 million. "This is a pipe dream," scorns the critic. "Nothing of this sort will actually happen."
One happy, cost-sharing family ?
In fact, the apprehensions of the German, Swiss and the French representatives of the governing Council on this very count have gone into the records. Their strong misgivings about government and private sector participation in the
fcb project stem primarily from their doubts about the commitment of funds from the Government of India, the Surface transport ministry, the
dtc , the
mnes or private investors, even if the costs were to plummet sharply, which, according to them, is not going to happen in the near future.
The only concession these critics saw forthcoming from the Indian government was the exemption of duties. But this would happen even without government intervention because
undp projects are exempt from taxes in the normal course of action.
It also highly doubtful if the
dtc , which currently operates 40 per cent of the total bus fleets in Delhi, will turn into a major
fcb user as the
gef envisions. The state-owned corporation is notorious for backing out of its commitments, as its cavalier dismissal of the Supreme Court's deadline to end running polluting diesel vehicles shows. Its reluctance to gear up to the possibilities that
cng offers is another glaring example. The
gef is banking on the similarity between
cng and hydrogen re-fuelling facilities for
dtc to make the transition.
The
gef' s faith in expanding the use of
fcb s in all of India's metros is probably misplaced as well. Given the cost barriers, it is unlikely that Mumbai, Kolkata, or Chennai will accept it in the near future. Making a dent in the 600,000 diesel bus market and capturing a market for
fcb s in this vast geographical region is not going to be so easy.
The
gef' s plans of collaborating with the Government of India on incentive plans for
fcb manufacturers and hydrogen facility suppliers so that they can venture into commercial production and marketing seems far fetched for this very reason. Import duty exemptions, tax credit for the products, soft loan guarantees, indirect incentives such as adding user tax to the diesel fuel and intensifying research in fuel cell vehicles are great ideas but will remain in that realm if the issue of price imbalance is not addressed.
A technical advisory committee, consisting of Bharat Heavy Electronics Ltd (
bhel ), Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (
spic ), Tata Energy Research Institute (
teri ), AF Ferguson and the Indian Institute of Technology (
iit ), Delhi, is also expected to provide back up and the cooperation of Indian Oil Corporation and Gas Authority of India has also been enlisted. But the Brazilian experience has earlier shown that both government and private parties do not cooperate very readily, which must serve as a lesson to other countries.
The tussle with the technology
The
gef is lucid about why it is promoting
fcb s. It is interested in this technology only because it reduces carbon emissions, which in turn lowers greenhouse gases. And this fulfils its objective of promoting clean fuel technology. But how environment friendly is the future hydrogen facility operation?
It proposes to set up the future hydrogen facility at Rajghat power project and will tie up supply to the fleet. "All very neatly argued and tied up but is the fuel as environment-friendly as it is made out to be?," demands an insider of the Facility. The technology used would be to split water with electricity, which is bound to generate carbon dioxide.
Carbon concerns
Also, the
gef calculations of carbon dioxide emission are based on typical diesel fuel composition in India -- average bus daily driving a distance of 169 km at a fuel economy of 3.76 km/litre. It also takes into account that fuel oil production from crude in a refinery typically has 90 per cent conversion efficiency. It holds that for each kilometre driven, a diesel bus is estimated to emit about 815 grams of carbon dioxide. According to project estimates, the eight
fcb s to be introduced in Delhi would lead to a reduction of 57 tonnes of carbon dioxide over three-and-a-half years. In other words, an
fcb , over a kilometre, would emit 57 grams less of carbon dioxide than a diesel bus -- a savings of only seven per cent.
As reservations pile up against the
fcb project in India, the question uppermost in everyone's mind is: will fuel cell buses ply Delhi's roads and prove to be the ultimate saviour for its asphyxiating population or is the programme doomed to sputter into silent anonymity? Will the Facility's mission of reducing greenhouse gases be accomplished or is its eagerness misplaced? n
Reported by Chitra Gopalakrishnan from Washington DC