India, Netherlands Strengthen Green Hydrogen Ties with New Fellowship

• India and the Netherlands launched the Hydrogen Fellowship Programme to advance green hydrogen research
• The University of Groningen signed an MoU with 19 IITs for long-term academic collaboration in hydrogen and green energy
• These initiatives support India’s clean energy goals, including the National Green Hydrogen Mission and Net-Zero emissions by 2070

India and the Netherlands have recently made a major move in bolstering bilateral cooperation in clean energy research with the introduction of the India-Netherlands Hydrogen Fellowship Programme and the formation of an academic relationship between the University of Groningen and 19 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Such efforts, backed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), serve to enhance the research, help develop talent, and enhance innovation in the area of green hydrogen technologies, which is at the core of the Indian clean energy transition.

The Hydrogen Fellowship Programme is a national programme aimed at capacity building of applicants for doctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty positions at Indian institutions.

It provides a systematic experience of high-level hydrogen ecosystems in the Netherlands with an emphasis on key topics, including system integration, safety, techno-economic analysis, life-cycle analysis and indigenisation pathways.

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In highlighting the need to ensure international cooperation and capacity-building to move hydrogen technologies out of laboratories and into practice, DST Secretary Prof. Abhay Karandikar identified such key areas of the Indian economy that hydrogen technologies may support India in achieving its clean energy goals.

According to Huib Mijnarends, the Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands, the Dutch and the Americans are closely aligned in their research and energy transition in the field of hydrogen. Prof. Dr Jouke de Vries at the University of Groningen emphasized that academic collaborations are necessary and have to be sustained to address the global energy challenges.

Simultaneously, DST also helped to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Groningen and 19 IITs, which preconditioned the long-term cooperation in the sphere of hydrogen and green energy research, faculty and student exchanges, and joint research projects. These would support India in its clean energy agenda, like the National Green Hydrogen Mission and its pursuit of Net-Zero emissions by the year 2070.