The government of India while clearing the National Green Hydrogen mission on January 4 also earmarked incentives worth Rs 17,490 crore for its production and manufacturing of electrolysers.
But even as details of how these incentives will be rolled out are yet to be announced, a host of private sector conglomerates have already made pitches to go big on green hydrogen. Some of them announced their targets way back in 2021 when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman first revealed about India’s plan to harness green hydrogen in her 2021 budget speech and later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the National Hydrogen Energy Mission in his Independence Day speech in August the same year.
For starters, green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy through electrolysis and thus, is carbon free. In this process, hydrogen is separated from oxygen in the water through an electric current. Renewable sources, such as solar or wind, are used in the requirement for electricity for electrolysis and hence, the colour “green” is attributed to this form of hydrogen.
Moneycontrol takes a look at what companies have promised to accelerate India’s green hydrogen mission.
ADANI GROUP
On June 14, 2022, Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL) announced that it has partnered with France’s TotalEnergies SE to invest $50 billion over the next 10 years in India to produce green hydrogen and develop an ecosystem around it.
In the initial phase, ANIL aims to develop green hydrogen production capacity of 1 million ton per annum before 2030.
Last month (December, 2022), ANIL signed a development and licensing agreement with Cavendish Renewable Technology (CRT), a Melbourne based hydrogen technology firm, for development of alkaline electrolyses, polymer exchange membrane (PEMs), anion exchange membranes (AEMs) and CRT’s innovative “C-Cell” technology for mass scale production.
RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD (RIL)
On August 29, 2022, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries said the company aims to transition to green hydrogen production, from grey now, by 2025. The company aims to reduce the production cost of green hydrogen to under $1/kg by the end of this decade.
According to sources, RIL is in advanced talks with Hinduja-owned truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland for the development and supply chain of hydrogen-powered engines.
Bloomberg on January 5 reported that Mukesh Ambani will be focusing his attention on RIL’s pivot to green energy. The 65-year-old will oversee strategy, including the building of gigafactories and blue hydrogen facilities, will assess acquisition targets, and is talking to potential investors, the people said, asking not to be named as the information isn’t public.
Ambani last year unveiled plans to spend $75 billion on clean energy projects over the next 15 years.
INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LTD (IOCL)
IOCL is targeting to replace at least a tenth of its current fossil-fuel-based hydrogen at its refineries with green hydrogen as part of a decarbonisation drive. This year, the company is also going to set up subsidiary to house its green energy businesses.
“The company is venturing into green hydrogen production and is targeting 5 percent of hydrogen produced by it as green hydrogen by 2027-28 and 10 per cent by 2029-30,” the PSU’s 2022 annual report stated.
To start with, the nation's largest oil firm is setting up green hydrogen plants at its Panipat and Mathura refineries.
Besides, Chennai petroleum corporation, a subsidiary of IOCL, has recently issued an EOI for the design, manufacturing and commissioning f the electrolyser and related items for the production of green hydrogen at its refinery at Manali in Chennai.
ONGC
In July, 2022, India’s state-controlled Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and joint venture partner Greenko inked a pact to spend up to $6.2 billion on renewable energy and green hydrogen projects.
GREENKO-KEPPEL DEAL
In October, 2022, Greenko Group announced that India will for the first-time export green energy from 2025, with the first shipments going to a Singapore power plant as it signed a MoU with Singapore's Keppel Infrastructure.
Through the MoU, the two companies will explore opportunities in green hydrogen in India. They are working towards a 250,000 tonne per annum contract to be supplied to Keppel’s new 600Mw power plant in Singapore.
Greenko’s wide range of investments includes $5 billion in the storage of carbon-free green hydrogen energy across India
GAIL India Ltd
On May 12, 2022, GAIL announced that it has awarded a contract to set up one of the largest Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Electrolyser in India. The project would be installed at GAIL’s Vijaipur Complex, in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, and would be based on renewable power. The project has been designed to produce around 4.3 MT of green hydrogen per day (approx. 10 MW capacity). It is scheduled to be commissioned by November 2023.
In January, 2022, GAIL had commenced India’s first-of-it’s-kind project of mixing hydrogen into natural gas system.
BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD (BPCL)
BPCL is going to install a 5 MW electrolyser system to set up a green hydrogen production facility in a phased manner in one of its city gas distribution projects. In June, 2022, it invited bids for the same.
In April 2022, BPCL signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Odisha government to explore the feasibility of setting up a renewable energy plant and a green hydrogen plant (both for domestic and export customers) among other things.
The company has collaborated with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to work on alkaline electrolyser technology for Green Hydrogen production. It aims to scale up production of the electrolyser for commercial use, especially in refineries.
NTPC Ltd
India’s largest electricity producer, NTPC, plans to use about 5 GW capacity in green hydrogen and ammonia business out of its 60 GW green portfolio target by 2032.
NTPC has started three pilots on the hydrogen business. One is a pilot project of blending green hydrogen and natural gas at its Kawas plant in Gujarat. The second is in Leh where the company is setting up a green hydrogen filling station along with solar plants. The plan is to run hydrogen based fuel cell buses there as well. The third is a pilot project of producing hydrogen along with carbon capture at its Vindhyachal plant in Madhya Pradesh.
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD (L&T)
Engineering major L&T commissioned a green hydrogen plant at its AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex in Hazira, Gujarat in August 2022. The plant produces 45 Kg of green hydrogen on a daily basis, which is used for captive consumption in the company’s Hazira manufacturing complex.
The company has also signed an agreement with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay to jointly pursue research and development work in the green hydrogen value chain.
In January, 2022, L&T signed a pact with Norway-based electrolyser technology and manufacturer HydrogenPro AS to set up a unit in India. As per the memorandum of understanding, L&T and HydrogenPro will work towards setting up of a gigawatt-scale manufacturing unit for alkaline water electrolysers based on HydrogenPro technology.
In December 2021, L&T tied up with Nasdaq-listed ReNew Power to jointly develop, own, execute and operate green hydrogen projects in India.
HPCL
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) aims to have a green hydrogen capacity of 24,000 tonnes a year, and hopes to commission a 370-tonne-a-year-capacity green hydrogen plant at its Vizag refinery.
Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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