India expects to add about 125 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030 for the production of at least 5 million metric ton (MMT) green hydrogen annually after the cabinet approved its National Green Hydrogen Mission with an initial outlay of INR 197 billion ($2.4 billion).
These targets are expected to bring in more than INR 8000 billion ($96.6 billion) in investments and create over 600,000 jobs, while avoiding nearly 50 MMT per annum of carbon emissions by the end of this decade.
With this amount of green hydrogen in use, India hopes to report more than INR 1,000 billion ($12.1 billion) cumulative reduction in its fossil fuel imports.
According to a government statement, the "Mission aims to make India a Global Hub for production, utilization and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives. Mission will help in India becoming energy independent and in decarbonization of major sectors of the economy."
The initial financial outlay includes INR 175 billion ($2.1 billion) for the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT) through which financial incentives will be offered targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolyzers and production of green hydrogen.
Another INR 14.66 billion ($177 million) will be available to support pilot projects in emerging end-use sectors and production pathways. INR 4 billion will back R&D projects that are goal-oriented, time-bound and suitably scaled up to develop globally competitive technologies. The remaining INR 3.88 billion ($47 million) will support other mission components.
The mission with its enabling policy framework aims to facilitate demand creation, production, utilization and export of green hydrogen thus establishing a green hydrogen ecosystem in the country. Plans include formulating a public-private partnership framework for R&D called Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership (SHIP) under its aegis.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been tasked with devising the scheme guidelines to implement respective components.
"The Mission will have wide ranging benefits- creation of export opportunities for Green Hydrogen and its derivatives; decarbonization of industrial, mobility and energy sectors; reduction in dependence on imported fossil fuels and feedstock; development of indigenous manufacturing capabilities; creation of employment opportunities; and development of cutting-edge technologies," stated the government.
India officially announced its 5 MMT green hydrogen target in February 2022 to help meet its target of 500 GW renewable energy in the national energy mix by 2030 and position itself as a global export hub of green hydrogen and green ammonia (see India Launches Green Hydrogen Policy).
While there is now fierce global competition on who will dominate the gigantic future green hydrogen business, with regions and countries around the world increasingly subsidizing green hydrogen projects, fact is that the around 94 million tons of hydrogen currently being used per year basically all come from fossil fuels, creating over 2% of global CO2 emissions. At the World Hydrogen Congress in the Netherlands in Oct. 2022, Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance and now CEO of his own consulting firm, in a keynote speech said, "Before we position hydrogen as the solution for climate change, we first have to deal with hydrogen as a problem in climate change." In other words, very fast expansion of renewables installed capacity is key for a green hydrogen economy. End of September 2022, India had installed around 64 GW of cumulative solar PV capacity, which was 36 GW short of their end of 2022 target at the time (see BTI: India Installed 3.3 GW New Solar Capacity In Q3/2022).
Recently, government owned Indian utility NTPC and GGL commissioned the country's 1st green hydrogen project powered by floating solar power, but blending it with piped natural gas (see NTPC Commissions India's Maiden 'Green' Hydrogen Plant).