Power Minister RK Singh may unveil Phase 1 of green hydrogen policy shortly

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The government is likely to announce the first phase of the green hydrogen policy soon. "We are going to put mandates for replacement of grey hydrogen and grey ammonia with green hydrogen and green ammonia in a certain trajectory.

That mandate will come out after clearance of the Cabinet," RK Singh, Minister of Power & New Energy, said on Wednesday. "What is going to be issued on Thursday or the day after is open access, banking, and free transmission,” he said.

The first phase of the policy is unlikely to include viability gap funding and mandates for producers under the green hydrogen policy for green hydrogen and ammonia usage. These are likely to be added in the second phase, sources told CNBC-TV18. Singh said renewable purchase obligations (RPOs) would now include battery storage apart from solar, wind, and hydro.

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The minister said the government wants to establish 229 GW renewable installed capacity by FY23. Claiming the government would provide free transmission facilities for renewable generation to all companies, Singh said: "The government wants every industry to set up renewable energy capacity."

Earlier in January, Singh had said the new green hydrogen policy would feature incentives like free power transmission for 25 years, dollar-denominated bids, offer of land in renewable energy parks, and land allocation near ports for creating bunkers for green hydrogen or ammonia. Alok Kumar, secretary, power ministry, on Wednesday said energy transition was the need of the hour but required much more attention.

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"We have to meet energy demand for growth. During the transition, we have to look at the cost of energy. India has to push more and more decentralised applications for energy transition. Utility reform is the core of energy transition for the next 20 years," Kumar said while adding green hydrogen potential in India needs to be exploited aggressively.

The government launched National Hydrogen Mission in 2021 to draw up a road map for using hydrogen as an energy source. The initiative has the potential of transforming transportation.