The mission aims to make India the global hub for production, usage and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives
Various government-owned entities, including NTPC and GAIL, are taking a number of steps to aid the ambitious National Green Hydrogen Mission by setting up projects, Parliament was informed.
In January, the Centre approved the mission with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing the mission, which aims to make India the global hub for the production, usage, and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives, Union Minister R K Singh told the Lok Sabha in response to a question.
On the present status of the adoption of green hydrogen in the country, the minister for new and renewable energy said GAIL Ltd. has started India's maiden project of blending hydrogen in city gas distribution grids.
He said two percent of the volume of hydrogen is being blended into the CNG network, and five percent of the volume of hydrogen is being blended into the PNG network at the city gas station of Avantika Gas Limited (AGL) at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
Oil India Limited has developed a 60-kW hydrogen fuel cell bus.
NTPC Limited has initiated the blending of green hydrogen up to 8 percent (vol/vol) in the PNG Network at NTPC Kawas Township, Surat, Gujarat, from January 2023.
In addition, several entities have announced plans to set up production facilities for green hydrogen/green ammonia in India.
Since green hydrogen adoption in the country is at an initial stage, through demonstration projects, its impact on job creation and a reduction in dependence on oil and exports has been limited so far.
However, the mission aims to reach 5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) of green hydrogen capacity, contributing to a reduction in dependence on the import of fossil fuels.
Achievement of mission targets is expected to reduce a cumulative Rs 1 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel imports by 2030. This is likely to leverage over Rs 8 lakh crore in total investments and create over 6 lakh jobs.
Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) scheme (Mode I, tranche I) of the National Green Hydrogen Mission, Singh said, requests for proposals have been invited for the selection of green hydrogen producers to set up production facilities of 4,50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen in the country.