HIGHLIGHTS
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IH2A has proposed the creation of a H2Bharat Public-Private Taskforce for a GW-scale national hydrogen hub development plan to NITI Aayog and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), with the aim of identifying at least five large GW-scale green hydrogen hubs for development in India, within next 18-months. The proposal was the result of the second workshop conducted by NITI Aayog and IH2A, to build the hydrogen economy in India, and part of a set of seven points that were deliberated during the workshop. Link
POLICY DEVELOPMENTS
- Government to incentivise production of Green Hydrogen with an eye on global export value-chains: The National Green Hydrogen Mission is likely to include incentives like those offered by Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, to promote the production and the subsequent export of green hydrogen and ammonia. The incentives could be offered for a period of five years to support a minimum of 10 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) of green hydrogen or green ammonia exports by 2030 and 50 MMTPA green hydrogen or ammonia market by 2030 in the country. According to Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, the focus will be to establish scale and reduce production costs to US $1/kg from US $4/kg. India is eyeing exports of green ammonia to developed economies such as Japan, US, South Korea, and Europe, where demand is projected to be more than 300 MMTPA by 2030. Link
- Major Renewable Energy Companies Float Green Hydrogen Advocacy Group: Key renewable energy players like Acme Group, Azure Power, SunEdison Infrastructure and Fortum Power have formed the Independent Green Hydrogen Association (IGHPA), to effectively engage with the government and key stakeholders in the green hydrogen ecosystem. The association has appointed former bureaucrat Shashi Shekhar, previously secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources and River Development, as Director General. IGHPA will aim to provide technical, economic, and regulatory inputs for development of policy frameworks around clean energy transition. Link
- Engineers India signs pact with Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL) to develop 20 MW Green Hydrogen Plant: Engineers India, an Indian government corporation, has been appointed to provide consultancy services for the development of an electrolyser based Green Hydrogen plant in Bina, Central India. The project has the potential to be one of the country’s largest Green Hydrogen plants, with an estimated capacity of 8.5 TDP or 20 MW. Link
- Co-location of green energy generation capacity and electrolysers to offer distinct cost advantages: ICRA: US owned Indian ratings agency ICRA has estimated cost advantages up to US $1/kg in the production of green hydrogen, if the energy generation capacity and electrolysers are co-located. The cost per kilogram would rise between 50 US cents and a dollar if electrolyzers are powered by off-site renewables wheeling electricity via intra-state grids. To minimize the cost of green hydrogen, battery energy storage and energy banking – a system which offers electricity generators the chance to feed excess electricity into the grid and draw it down at a later point – would need to be available. According to ICRA, the green hydrogen policy recently notified by India's Ministry of Power would drive big demand for renewables capacity in the nation, generating the need for an additional 60GW of green hydrogen based power. Link
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
- Netherlands to facilitate export of Green Hydrogen from India to Europe: As the Russia-Ukraine crisis underpins the need for energy independence and security, Netherlands is looking for alternatives to Russian natural gas. Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, Climate Envoy of Netherlands expressed his confidence in the potential of Green Hydrogen and India’s capability of producing it at scale. Netherlands has the potential of being the gateway to Northern Europe, with the Port of Rotterdam linking key countries like Germany and Belgium. Netherlands is already working with India on an MoU for collaboration on renewable energy. As India’s fifth largest Foreign Direct Investor, Netherlands might look at shifting investments from fossil fuels to renewables going forward. Link
- India-Norway JV to develop $2.5 Billion Green Hydrogen Megaproject in Oman: A 50-50 Joint Venture (JV) between Norway’s Scatec and India’s Acme Group will develop 100,000 tonnes a year green hydrogen plant in the Duqm Special Economic Zone, 400 kilometres south of Muscat. The project, scalable to an eventual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, will be powered by 500MW of solar capacity. A press statement highlighted Oman’s strategic location for the project – Excellent solar resources and sufficient area for storage. Link
- India, Japan launch Clean Energy Partnership (CEP): Triangulating three core issues - sustainable economic growth, climate action and energy security – India and Japan announced a new Clean Energy Partnership at the sidelines of the 14th Annual Bilateral summit between the two nations. The partnership will include focused cooperation in areas electric vehicles (EV), storage systems including batteries, electric vehicle charging infrastructure (EVCI), solar energy, clean including green hydrogen/ammonia, wind energy, exchange of views on respective energy transition plans, energy efficiency, CCUS (Carbon dioxide Capturing, Utilization and Storage) and Carbon Recycling, according to a joint statement. The implementation of the partnership will be undertaken under the existing ' India-Japan Energy Dialogue', among various stakeholders such as Ministries and organizations involved in this mechanism, informed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Link
- Ineos to invest 2 billion Euros in building Hydrogen Electrolyser plants around Europe: Europe’s largest operator of electrolysis, UK based Ineos, announced its commitment towards a ‘climate-neutral’ economy by investing in Green Hydrogen capacities over the next decade. Germany and Norway are the two countries identified for the programme. The first phase of the programme will be the construction of a 20MW electrolyser in the Norwegian port of Rafnes. This will produce hydrogen from renewable electricity and use it to fill fuel cells in the Norway’s transportation industry. A 100MW electrolyser will be built at Ineos’ Cologne factory to produce green ammonia. Link
- Hydrogen City, World’s largest Green H2 Hub, to begin operations by 2026: Hydrogen City, a project envisaged by Green Hydrogen International, will harness 60 gigawatts of solar and wind energy and use it to produce over 2.5 billion kilograms (2.4 million tons) of green hydrogen a year, keeping it underground in storage caverns at the Piedras Pintas salt dome, in Texas, before transport. The first phase will come online in 2026, bringing in 2 GW of green energy production and two storage caverns. GHI says that eventually, over 50 caverns can be created at the site, storing up to 6 TWh of energy. Link
- Paving the way for green hydrogen certification: The International Renewable Energy Agency has released a report, End-use Sectors: Green Hydrogen Certification, to drive solutions and policy frameworks that support renewable hydrogen and establish a credible market. Specifically, the report outlines the importance of relying on third parties for the verification of data on renewable hydrogen tracking systems and public disclosure standards. Link