First ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council: India EU-TTC is a strategic coordination and engagement on trade and technology between India and EU, announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, on 25 April 2022. Under the TTC, three working groups have been established. Working Group (WG2) on Green & Clean Energy Technologies is being chaired by Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. On PSA’s invitation, IH2A joined the discussion on Green and Clean Energy Technologies workgroup (related to Circular economy, Green Hydrogen, E-mobility, batteries and its recycling) and provided inputs for the first ministerial meeting of India-EU TTC.
POLICY & MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
- Gujrat’s draft green policy to be ready in 2 months: The Gujarat government is gearing up to formulate a comprehensive policy for green hydrogen manufacturing. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd, the state’s leading power utility, has been actively engaged in formulating the draft policy. An estimated investment of ₹10 trillion ($13.7 billion) is anticipated in the state’s green energy sector. To incentivize investment, Gujarat government announced a land allotment policy. As per the policy, companies must meet 50% of their green hydrogen production capacity within five years of plant commissioning and achieve 100% capacity within eight years. Link
- HP to get new Green Hydrogen Policy: Himachal Pradesh is formulating a new green hydrogen policy. CM Sukhvinder Sukhu said that the state government has already kick started the efforts towards green hydrogen production by entering in a MoU with Oil India Limited. This collaboration will enable the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia. He also highlighted that Oil India Limited showed interest to establish a plant in Himachal Pradesh that will produce green hydrogen and convert it into ethanol. Link
- Punjab to announce Green Hydrogen policy, says renewable energy minister: Punjab renewable energy minister Aman Arora said that Punjab will soon come up with a green hydrogen policy. An official statement quoting Arora said around 3,200 MW capacity renewable energy projects, including 2,000 MW capacity of solar plants, have been installed, which is about 21% of the total installed capacity in Punjab. This share of renewable energy will be increased up to 30% by 2030. Link
- JSW Energy to set up 3,800 tonne GH2 plant in Karnataka: JSW Energy is planning to set up a green hydrogen plant in Karnataka with a capacity of 3,800 tonne. It is also signing a seven-year contract with JSW Steel, from the same conglomerate, for supplying green hydrogen and green oxygen to produce green steel. JSW Energy intends to spend INR 85,000 crore in the next seven years under its recently unveiled ‘Strategy 2.0’ initiative, wherein it aims to increase its generation capacity to 20 GW and energy storage of 40 GWh/5GW by 2030. Link
- Energy PSUs eyes 38,000 tonnes per annum green hydrogen capacity: India's state-run oil and gas companies are targeting to build a combined green hydrogen generation capacity of 38,000 tonnes per annum by the next financial year. The planned green hydrogen facilities would require setting up a combined electrolyzer capacity of 279 MW by 2024-25, according to the energy transition advisory committee of the petroleum ministry. Link
- Inox Air Plans to Tap Markets for Green Hydrogen Business: Inox Air Products Ltd, India’s largest manufacturer of industrial and medical gases, plans to tap the equity market to finance an expansion into green hydrogen. MD Siddharth Jain, said that when they enter the hydrogen producing business it could require an investment of up to INR 10,000 crore and they would surely look at tapping the equity market to raise money. Link
- Green hydrogen park in Kandla: The central government run Deendayal Port Authority at Kandla has joined India's National Green Hydrogen Mission by mooting a sprawling renewable park for the production. DPA has identified 26,000 acres of land for this energy park DPA has identified 26,000 acres of land for this energy park and plans to invest INR 715 crore to create common infrastructure facilities for private players looking to invest in green hydrogen production. The port trust has received expressions of interest from 10 private companies for the production, storage, and sale of green hydrogen and green ammonia. Link
- Green hydrogen bunkering, refuelling facilities to be set up at all major ports by 2035: Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways has said that green hydrogen bunkering and refuelling facilities would be built at all major ports by 2035. Additionally, the ministry emphasized that all ports must work to meet the renewable energy goal outlined in the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Blue Economy 2047 policies. The Ministry noted that the share of renewable energy at ports should exceed 60% by the year 2030 and 90% by the year 2047. Link
- Indraprastha Gas , ACME sign MoU to jointly supply Green Hydrogen: ACME Group and Indraprastha Gas Limited have signed a MoU to jointly explore the potential business opportunities of green hydrogen. ACME and IGL will work jointly to promote the adoption by the customers and create demand for Green Hydrogen in the country. The Companies will also work together to explore the opportunity of setting UP hydrogen generation plants including setting up electrolyzes to blend Green Hydrogen in IGL’s existing pipeline networks supplying gas to households, industrial & commercial setups and CNG for vehicles. Link
- Government extends ISTS waiver to green hydrogen, ammonia projects: Government of India has decided to grant waiver of ISTS charges to off-shore wind projects and extend the waiver to green hydrogen/green ammonia. This decision has been taken to facilitate wider execution of offshore wind energy initiatives, to promote the expansion of green hydrogen / green ammonia projects and to encourage the offtake of renewable energy from energy storage system projects. Link
- Govt to offer incentives in demand aggregation model for green hydrogen: The union government is going to include demand aggregation in its incentive scheme under the National Green Hydrogen Mission. The government will invite bids for the first tranche of the green hydrogen incentive scheme by June-end. The proposal on green hydrogen production states that the proposed incentive outlay will be INR 13,050 crore spread over three years. INR 4,440 crore has been allotted for incentives for electrolyzer manufacturing. Link
- India eyes clean energy sources to tackle tariffs: The government is considering revising its industrial electrification strategy to prioritize adopting cleaner energy sources, such as green hydrogen and battery storage, over fossil fuels amid the need to meet net-zero targets and the potential imposition of taxes on products based on their carbon emissions by developed nations. The government plans to develop a long-term strategy to transition industries that use fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. A person familiar with the development said that India is in talks with Europe to recognize carbon trading certificates that companies in the country would get under the newly planned carbon market. Link
- Guidelines for green ports unveiled: The ministry of ports, shipping and waterways launched the “Harit Sagar" green port guidelines, aimed at achieving zero carbon emissions by promoting eco-friendly practices in port development, operation, and maintenance. The guidelines emphasize the use of clean and green energy, such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol/ethanol, to reduce carbon emissions over defined timelines. The guidelines aim to generate fair and healthy competition amongst the major ports and motivate them to perform better in the coming years. Link
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
- NEOM signs agreements to build world's largest hydrogen plant: NEOM, Saudi Arabia's green megacity, located in the Tabuk province, has reached a historic milestone with the signing of agreements valued at $8.4 billion that will see the construction of the world's largest carbon-free hydrogen plant by NEOM Green Hydrogen Company. The NEOM power plant will carry out electrolysis processes for the production of green ammonia that will be obtained with energy from renewable sources. The green hydrogen facility will be operational by 2025. Link
- Australia confirms funding for 3 GW green hydrogen project: Australia’s push to become a green hydrogen superpower has gained new momentum with the federal and Queensland governments teaming up with consortium partners to deliver AUD 117 million ($76 million) for a 3 GW renewable hydrogen project. It is capable of producing up to of 800 tons of green hydrogen per day for export to Japan and use in local industry. Link
- Scotland Taps AI To Accelerate Green Hydrogen Production: Computer scientists at the University of Aberdeen and Intelligent Plant software company will use explainable AI to develop a Decision Support System to tackle shortfalls in production and help Scotland meet its target of 5GW of installed hydrogen production, or one-sixth of the country’s energy needs, by 2030. They are working in partnership with the European Marine Energy Centre on the project, which has been funded through the Scottish Government’s Emerging Energy Technologies Fund. Link
- Hyphen and Namibia agree next phase of $10 bln green hydrogen project: Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has agreed a deal with the government of Namibia for the next phase of a $10 billion green hydrogen project that will export to Europe once complete, the two parties said. The plant, to be built in phases, will eventually produce 2 million tons of green ammonia a year for regional and global markets when it reaches full-scale output, which is anticipated before 2030. Link
- Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha join forces to co-develop hydrogen engines: Major Japanese two-wheeler manufacturers, Kawasaki Motors Ltd, Suzuki Motor Corp, Honda Motor Corp and Yamaha Motor Corp have made a major announcement regarding the development of hydrogen-powered engines for small mobility. Japan’s Ministry of Economic Trade and Industry has approved the four manufacturers to set up a joint technological research association to co-develop hydrogen-powered engines for ‘small mobility’. It can be assumed that these hydrogen -friendly engines could also power the two-wheelers that we see from manufacturers in the future. The joint research program is called Hydrogen Small Mobility and Engine technology. Link
- Plug Power plans $6 billion hydrogen projects in Finland: Plug Power Inc, a U.S. maker of hydrogen fuel systems, said that it aims to build three plants in Finland costing some $6 billion to produce green hydrogen and ammonia for the European market. The company said it had secured access to land near three port cities for the construction of a plant for liquid hydrogen and ammonia, a facility to generate hydrogen for green steel and a site to make hydrogen for transportation. It would employ some 1,000 people and produce around 850 tonnes of hydrogen per day. Link
- DOE Announces Nearly $42M to Advance Clean Hydrogen Technologies: The U.S. Department of Energy announced nearly $42 million in funding for 22 projects in 14 states to advance critical technologies for producing, storing, and deploying clean hydrogen. DOE also announced $17.8 million to establish a new North American university research consortium that will help states and tribal communities implement grid resilience programs and achieve decarbonization goals. DOE continues to make strides toward achieving President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to reach a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Link
- Italy, Austria and Germany back hydrogen-ready pipeline: Snam, Italy’s gas infrastructure operator, Trans Austria Gasleitung and Gas Connect Austria in Austria and bayernets in Germany have formed a partnership to develop the SoutH2 Corridor which will enable renewable hydrogen produced in the Southern Mediterranean to reach European consumers. Energy ministries of Italy, Austria and Germany signed a joint letter of political support for developing this 3,300-kilometre-long dedicated hydrogen-ready pipeline corridor which is a part of the European Hydrogen Backbone. This corridor could deliver 40% of the REPowerEU import target. Link