Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group has signed a non-binding pact with Nasdaq-listed Ballard Power Systems to evaluate a joint venture for investment in commercial production of hydrogen fuel cells for various mobility and industrial applications in India.
As per the memorandum of understanding, both parties will examine various options to cooperate, including potential collaboration for fuel cell manufacturing in India. Adani Enterprises’ newly formed arm Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL) will be housing the group’s green hydrogen initiatives.
“Our ability to build a world-class green hydrogen value chain will be critical in facilitating the energy transition and we are excited to partner with Ballard, a global leader in fuel cell technology, to create a shared fuel cell ecosystem in India. We will be deploying innovative use cases across our businesses with fuel cell trucks, mining equipment, marine vessels, off-road vehicles, and critical industrial power,” said Vneet S Jaain, Director, Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL).
Last week, the ministry of power notified the first part of the National Hydrogen Mission policy on green hydrogen and green ammonia, aimed at boosting production. Green hydrogen could potentially be the enabler for the global transition towards sustainable energy with net-zero emissions economies.
Green hydrogen refers to the hydrogen generated from electrolysis of water when the entire process is run on renewable energy.
Even before the government announced the first phase of the National Hydrogen Mission, Adani Group had said that it hopes to become one of the largest green hydrogen producers in the world, which could subsequently help India emerge as the world’s cheapest hydrogen producer.
The group is investing $20 billion in renewable energy generation over the next decade and is keen to use its generation for producing green hydrogen.
Randy MacEwen, Ballard’s President and chief executive officer said that his company was excited to collaborate with the Adani group which has “highly complementary assets” across the group portfolio. “India represents a new growth opportunity for Ballard, and we look forward to working with the Adani group to support and accelerate their energy transition and decarbonization goals,” he said.
Canada headquartered-Ballard’s zero-emission proton-exchange membrane fuel technology is enabling electrification of mobility, including buses, commercial trucks, trains, marine vessels, passenger cars and forklift trucks.
Indian energy majors like Reliance Industries, Adani Group, NTPC, BPCL, GAIL India, have welcomed the first tranche of announcement by the government, but are awaiting more concrete steps in the second tranche that could incentivise developing and manufacturing of green hydrogen locally.
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