Hydrogen will be a major fuel of the future for India, according to Tarun Kapoor, secretary to the government of India in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

On a visit to the UAE for the Adipec conference and the Dubai Expo, Kapoor said the nation is accelerating its hydrogen economy. “We have a roadmap that is almost in place,” he said. “We are looking at green hydrogen in a big way, and usage of hydrogen in refineries. That is the first low-hanging fruit we have.”

On 15 August, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced the nation’s Hydrogen Mission, which allocates INR250mn ($3.4mn) for research and development across 2021-22. The scheme aims to accelerate technology development and bring down the cost of production.

$3.4mn – Amount to be invested in R&D across 2021-22

“Right now, the price is a little high, but India will have a lot of renewable energy, and there is scope to make green hydrogen,” says Kapoor.

“Our companies have brought out some tenders. We will do a few projects to gain knowledge and see if the price can come down. Then we will have much larger tenders.”

A paper from the Manohar Parrikar Institute, funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence, advocates closer cooperation on hydrogen with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and production of green hydrogen for export to Japan, South Korea and Europe.

Gas blending

India is also looking at blending hydrogen in natural gas networks. “We tried one experiment in New Delhi where hydrogen was blended into CNG and was successful, and some buses are to run on hydrogen,” says Kapoor.  

“We want to do this in a big way, and do certain other experiments to see how natural gas blended with hydrogen can flow in the pipelines. Some electrolyser manufacturing capacity may also come up in India.”

Kapoor stresses India is not looking to become a hydrogen importer, in contrast to the strategies of Japan, South Korea and some European countries.

“We are looking purely at producing domestically. At some point in time we can start exporting also,” he says. “India has a huge capacity of renewable energy so in green hydrogen we can do quite a lot.”

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Author: Robin M Mills