The firms that have already announced their intentions in green hydrogen include Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Reliance Industries (RIL), GAIL, NTPC and Indian Oil Corporation, among others.
For India Inc, green hydrogen is now the buzzword as companies are making a beeline for its production, starting with for their captive uses, riding on favourable policy tailwinds and attempts to become carbon neutral.
Now at a nascent stage, commercial production plants of green hydrogen are operational in Hazira, Jorhat and Bikaner with a combined capacity of 200 tonne per annum (TPA). The government plans to increase it to 5 million TPA (MTPA) by 2030, and multiple projects planned by various public sector units and conglomerates would bring in significant capex by 2030.
Green hydrogen is a term used for production of hydrogen using renewable energy such as wind and solar. The firms that have already announced their intentions in green hydrogen include Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Reliance Industries (RIL), GAIL, NTPC and Indian Oil Corporation, among others.
“Green Hydrogen is emerging as a key factor in the energy mix and has the potential to solve multiple issues faced by our country today. It could not only help us to de-carbonise various industrial sectors, but also provide the energy security which is critical to support the country’s economic growth,” said Subramanian Sarma, whole time director and senior executive vice president (energy) at L&T.
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“Looking at the multiple pathways that can bring down the cost of green hydrogen, L&T believes that it’s only a matter of time for its full potential to materialise. As a nation builder, L&T has always been at the forefront to pursue such emerging applications and has the expertise to accelerate the transition process,” Sarma added.
In August, L&T commissioned a 45-kg per day green hydrogen plant at Hazira in Gujarat. The company will use the green hydrogen for captive consumption in the company’s Hazira manufacturing complex.
Gautam Adani, who plans to invest $100 billion over the next decade, primarily in the green energy space, also aims to become the expensive producer of green hydrogen.
On its part, Reliance Industries aims to transition to green hydrogen production from grey now by 2025 after proving cost and performance targets, chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said at the annual general meeting in August.
“India contributes nearly 7% of the total global emissions which makes it pertinent to move towards cleaner resources with an ambition to shift to net-zero by 2070. Green energy has the potential to reduce carbon emissions and move towards sustainability. However, green hydrogen, as a source of fuel and feedstock, is currently at a nascent stage and the adoption is presently being undertaken on a small scale or pilot basis,” Pranav Master, director – consulting at Crisil Market Intelligence & Analytics, said.
“This is mainly owing to the high production cost of green hydrogen, which is $4-5 per kg (over three times that of grey hydrogen). In the long run, however, green hydrogen adoption is expected to be healthy as costs would fall, led by rising scale benefits and improvement in technology,” he added.
According to an ICRA report, the global (and in India’s) drive towards green hydrogen adoption is dependent on decline in electrolysers’ costs by about 50% by 2030 to levelised cost of hydrogen of $2-3 per kg. However, considering the recent surge in metal prices because of geopolitical disruptions, the expected reduction in manufacturing costs for electrolysers may be back-ended to close to 2030, rather than in the immediate term, it added.
The initiatives by the government such as plans to come up with a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme and other initiatives, a guidance policy and de-carbonisation initiatives by corporates, among others are catalysts for it to gain acceptance.
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/corporates-are-making-a-beeline-for-green-hydrogen/2730135/
