Green Hydrogen Mission: Govt Entities, Others Taking Steps

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Various government-owned entities including NTPC and GAIL are taking a number of steps to aid the ambitious National Green Hydrogen Mission by setting up projects, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

In January, the Centre approved the mission with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing the mission which aims to make India the global hub for production, usage and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives, Union Minister R K Singh told the Lok Sabha in response to a question.

On the present status of adoption of green hydrogen in the country, the minister for new and renewable energy said, GAIL Ltd has started India's maiden project of blending hydrogen in city gas distribution grid.

He said two per cent by volume of hydrogen is being blended in CNG network and 5 per cent volume of hydrogen is being blended into PNG network at city gas station of Avantika Gas Limited (AGL) at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Oil India Limited has developed a 60-kW capacity hydrogen fuel cell bus.

NTPC Limited has initiated blending of green hydrogen up to 8 per cent (vol/vol) in PNG Network at NTPC Kawas Township, Surat, Gujarat from January 2023.

In addition, several entities have announced plans to set up production facilities for green hydrogen/green ammonia in India.

Since green hydrogen adoption in the country is at an initial stage, through demonstration projects, its impact on job creation, reduction in dependence on oil and exports has been limited so far.

However, the mission aims to reach 5 million metric tonne per annum ((MMTPA) of green hydrogen capacity, contributing to reduction in dependence on import of fossil fuels.

Achievement of mission targets is expected to reduce a cumulative Rs 1 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel imports by 2030. This is likely to leverage over Rs 8 lakh crore in total investments and create over 6 lakh jobs.

Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) scheme (Mode – I, tranche – I) of the National Green Hydrogen Mission, Singh said, requests for proposals have been invited for selection of green hydrogen producers to set up production facilities of 4,50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen in the country.