India should develop 25 national green hydrogen projects totalling 150MW of electrolyser capacity across five national hubs by 2025, according to a recent plan from industry body the India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A).

The plan would need $360mn of public finance over the next three years and require the creation of a national hydrogen development company and a public-private hydrogen taskforce.

IH2A has submitted the plan to India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

“The 25/25 plan addresses immediate project development priorities by providing a pathway to the first 150MW that will help India learn, improve, collaborate and build scalable gigawatt-scale green hydrogen projects in the 2025-30 period,” says Amrit Singh Deo, IH2A Secretariat lead.

“The proposed public spends are a fraction of what other economies are spending,” he adds.

Japan’s hydrogen strategy is backed by $19bn of public funding, Germany’s by $10bn and France and the US by $8bn each.

Cluster approach

The plan proposes five national green hydrogen hubs in industrial regions in Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

“The proposed public spends are a fraction of what other economies are spending” Singh Deo, IH2A

The Gujarat hub would see grey hydrogen replaced in existing ammonia and other chemical manufacturing processes by green hydrogen produced with a 10-20MW electrolyser.

The Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh hubs would decarbonise steelmaking and refineries. The Maharashtra hub would also be developed in coordination with a fuel-cell electric trucks to decarbonise road transport.

The plan outlines a green hydrogen price support of $2/kg for first-generation production projects over the 2023-25 period, without specifying a particular mechanism.

Big opportunity

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced the nation’s hydrogen mission in 2021, allocating INR250mn/yr ($3.4mn/yr) for research and development.

Earlier this year, the country set out a raft of additional policies designed to drive investment in green hydrogen projects as it targets production of 5mn t/yr by 2030.

India is a natural home for green hydrogen because of its ample renewables potential, according to a study by Indian thinktank Gateway House.

The country had 8.5mn t/yr of hydrogen demand in 2021, and this is expected to rise to 9.1mn t/yr in 2022 and 11mn t/yr in 2030. Ammonia production for fertilisers and desulphurisation of fuel in refineries are the two major sources of demand.

Some hydrogen projects are already underway. State-run Indian Oil Corporation is planning to build India’s first green hydrogen plant at its petroleum refinery in Mathura, while oil firm Reliance Industries announced it will install an electrolyser at its Jamnagar refinery. Hindustan Petroleum, a subsidiary of state-backed ONGC, is also planning a pilot hydrogen production programme.

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Author: Tom Young