India’s future green hydrogen and green ammonia production is projected to need as much as 70.5 gigawatt (GW) of green electricity by 2031-32, enough to power over a crore households for a month, prompting the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to explore ways to ensure round-the-clock supply of green power to support the Green Hydrogen Mission.
Hydrogen or ammonia is categorised as ‘green’ only if its production is powered via renewable energy (RE), implying the entire electricity requirement of 70.5 GW will have to be met through RE for it to be considered green. While this is lower than the required 125 GW of RE projected during the launch of the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), it is still daunting enough to have compelled the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to reassess and find round-the-clock green power while at the same time ensuring grid stability.
To put this into context, 70.5 GW electricity could power more than one crore households in India for a month, given that the average power consumption for a house ranges from 150-300 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Besides, India’s peak power demand alone is expected to hit 388 GW by 2031-32, for which the country would need a power generation capacity of 997 GW. Of this 997 GW, electricity from clean sources is expected to contribute 500 GW.
The 450-page National Electricity Plan (NEP), prepared by the Central Electricity Authority, stated that the electricity demand on account of green hydrogen/ammonia production would be maximum during solar generation hours. With the power demand during non-solar hours (evening and night) also on the rise, India may need to ensure that the power demand from green hydrogen hubs does not soar during such periods, the NEP said. Companies would have to produce only green ammonia during the evening or night, if they do not arrange for adequate energy storage units for their capacities.
Green hydrogen production, which involves splitting water using renewable electricity, requires more electricity per unit of energy output compared to green ammonia production, which uses green hydrogen as a feedstock for ammonia synthesis.
Accordingly, the electricity demand on account of green hydrogen/ammonia production would be 100 percent in the afternoon solar generation period, about 45 percent during evening peak demand period, and about 55 percent during night off-peak demand time, the NEP report said.
The proposed green hydrogen hub in Mundra will require 22 GW renewable energy, followed by the proposed hub at the Kandla port with a need for 10.3 GW. In total, Gujarat alone would require 32.3 GW of renewable electricity for its green hydrogen hubs, according to the National Electricity Plan (Volume II: Transmission).
The NEP, which is a medium to long-term plan for India's power sector, is prepared and notified every five years. The last NEP (Volume I: Generation) was notified in May 2023. A draft for the latest NEP (Volume II: Transmission) seeking comments was published in October 2024 and the final version was issued through a gazette notification on March 20, 2025.
Centre had launched the NGHM on January 4, 2023, aiming to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, with an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore, of which Rs 17,490 crore has been kept as incentives for producing green hydrogen/ammonia and manufacturing electrolysers. Of the Rs 17,490 crore incentive outlay, Rs 13,050 crore is for the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives, while Rs 4,440 crore has been allotted for incentives for electrolyser manufacturing.
The NGHM is one of the multi-pronged strategy of India to reach net zero by 2070. Reaching net zero means achieving a balance where the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from human activities is equal to the amount removed, effectively neutralizing the overall impact on the climate.
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