According to the Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Electricity, R.K. Singh, India has launched a number of green hydrogen pilot projects in an effort to reach 8 million tons of green hydrogen capacity by 2030.
The pilot projects include a 6 kilogram per hour green hydrogen production project based on biomass gasification at IISc Bangalore and a 5 Nm3/h (normal cubic meter per hour) green hydrogen production project based on solar energy and electrolysis in Gurugram, Haryana.
Both programs, according to the minister, fall under the ministry’s research and development division and are intended to help boost the nation’s currently meager production of green hydrogen.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission, which would assist the demand development, production, consumption, and export of green hydrogen, was approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this year with an initial outlay of 197.4 billion ($2.39 billion).
The project seeks to construct a green hydrogen ecosystem, advance and scale up its production technologies, and make it widely available and inexpensive. The minister also provided information to Parliament regarding a few other green hydrogen production pilot projects that have been put up around the nation but are not directly under the control of the MNRE.
At its Jorhat Pump Station in Assam in April of last year, Oil India, a government-owned company, put into operation the only pure green hydrogen pilot plant in the nation with an installed capacity of 10 kilogram per day.
The first green hydrogen blending project in India was launched in January of this year by NTPC and Gujarat Gas at the NTPC Kawas township in Surat, Gujarat. A green ammonia project by ACME in Bikaner, Rajasthan, to manufacture green hydrogen at a rate of 500 Nm3/h, or around 175 tons annually, is also included in the pilot programs.
The minister also said that the Indian government has not provided any funding for any of these experimental initiatives.
At its AM Naik Heavy Engineering Facility in Hazira, Gujarat, Larsen and Toubro has begun producing 45 kg of green hydrogen per day for internal use, according to a Mercom article. The low-cost, environmentally friendly alternative to commonly used fossil fuels is green hydrogen. Power producers and investors in India are becoming more interested in green hydrogen.
Singh has asserted that India is considering using green hydrogen to help it accomplish its goal of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity. A statement of intent for a long-term partnership centered on hydrogen and other clean technologies was signed in February of this year by the Department of Science and Technology and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
Also, the European Investment Bank and the India Hydrogen Alliance signed an agreement of understanding to contribute €1 billion (about $1.06 billion) towards the development of substantial green hydrogen hubs and projects throughout India.
