Availability of electrolysers pose a challenge for green hydrogen: Sukla Mistry

According to Sukla Mistry, Director, Refineries, Indian Oil Corporation, who also heads the company’s green hydrogen initiative, setting up manufacturing capacities for the latter is a challenge given the limited availability of electrolysers.

Talking to Moneycontrol on the sidelines of India Energy Week (IEW) 2023, Mistry said there were not many vendors who produced electrolysers.

“Green hydrogen requires green power and electrolysers. Globally, there are not many companies that produce electrolysers, and most of them are interested in supplying to Saudi Arabia, which has very big plans for green hydrogen,” said Mistry.

Also Read: India Energy Week Highlights: India managed the prices and supply challeneges of petroleum and natural gas energy even during a crisis, says Hardeep Singh Puri

Mistry also pointed out other challenges regarding the production of green hydrogen, including the need for distilled water and large requirement of installed capacity of renewable energy.

With the aim of achieving the country’s net zero targets by 2070, the Indian government is pushing companies to adopt green hydrogen.

In January this year, the government kicked off the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore. Of this, Rs 17,490 crore (88.6 percent) has been earmarked solely to incentivise the production of green hydrogen and electrolysers, and Rs 400 crore has been earmarked for R&D.

Other than that, Rs 1,466 crore will be devoted to pilot projects and Rs 388 crore towards other mission components.

The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) will formulate the scheme guidelines for the implementation of the respective components.

On February 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country was taking the lead in the green hydrogen space, which would replace grey hydrogen in the years to come.

Earlier, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya had told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview that he hopes the company’s green hydrogen initiatives will accelerate the replacement of grey hydrogen with green, and help achieve the ‘1-1-1 goal.’

Green hydrogen 1-1-1 refers to the aim of reducing the price of 1 kilogram of green hydrogen to $1 in 1 decade.

Also Read: Explainer | Budget 2023: Why India is betting big on green hydrogen

The oil giant, which has promised to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2046, has formed joint ventures (JV) with companies such as the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and ReNew for its energy transition plan.

Last year, NTPC and IOC formed a JV to meet the power requirements of upcoming IOC projects.

Indian Oil said the JV will help meet the additional power requirement of its refineries using round-the-clock renewable energy to the tune of 650 MW by December 2024.

Another JV was formed last year between IOC, engineering major L&T, and clean energy company ReNew to develop the nascent green hydrogen sector.