Union Power Minister RK Singh on September 7 said India is capable of producing green hydrogen at competitive prices without a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
He added that companies in India have already committed to investing in green hydrogen technology and this will help reduce the cost of production through scale, and that India is committed to being the biggest hub for green hydrogen production in the world.
The minister's comments come just months after he had said that India plans to offer more “sweeteners” for producers.
Last month, Kapil Maheshwari, president of new energy at Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), said that RIL plans to bid for any production-linked incentives the government may offer to encourage the technology.
Green hydrogen has drawn tens of billions of dollars in investment commitments from investors.
While Reliance is mapping its way to transition from the production of grey hydrogen to the production of green hydrogen by 2025, Adani group's Gautam Adani on September 7 said his ports-to-power conglomerate will build three giga factories for manufacturing solar modules, wind turbines, and hydrogen electrolyzers as part of a $70 billion investment in clean energy by 2030.
The government unveiled the first phase of its green hydrogen policy in February, offering a range of incentives for companies to set up projects.
Green hydrogen, produced by splitting water with the help of clean energy like wind power, is seen as critical to decarbonising hard-to-abate industries such as oil refineries and steel mills, helping meet global targets to zero out emissions and fight global warming.
However, the power minister said that the government is working to come out with a PLI scheme for renewable energy storage in India soon.
The government will invite bids for battery storage projects from players looking to invest in the renewable energy sector, Singh said.
Bids will also be invited for green hydrogen and green ammonia projects, the minister said at the 'India Ideas Summit' organised by the US-India Business Council (USIBC).
He added that the government is not looking at lithium-ion battery technology to store renewable energy but is looking at other cheaper innovations to store energy.
Singh also said that India is committed to being the fastest growing market in the world for renewable energy capacity addition for the next few years.
The government aims to produce 65 percent of India's power through non-fossil fuel-based sources by 2030. At the moment, 41.5 percent of India's power capacity come from non-fossil fuel sources. "Up to 168 GW of India's power is produced through non-fossil fuel sources," Singh said.
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