H2e Power to set up SOFC charging stations at IOC outlets

 

Pune-based H2e Power Systems is waiting for clearance from the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization (PESO), a government body, for setting up solid oxide fuel cell-based EV charging stations at the retail outlets of India’s biggest oil refiner-cum-oil marketer, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), reports the Business Line newspaper. 

At first, the company will set up two, at IOC’s outlets at Rohini (in Delhi) and Faridabad. After gathering experience for a couple of months, the company will set up more, perhaps 10 or so, at other outlets of IOC. 

H2e Power's SOFC machines will be fed by CNG from IOC's petrol stations.

H2e Power will power at least some of the charging stations of IOC, particularly those that are battery-swapping centers. IOCL has said that it would set up EV charging stations at 10,000 of its outlets.  

IOCL has also tied-up with Sun Mobility, a joint venture of the SUN group and Chetan Maini, who started the company that manufactured India’s first EV, the two-seater, REVA.

Sun Mobility will set up battery-swapping stations at IOCL’s petrol bunks. H2e Power will provide energy to recharge the batteries there. 

Auto components maker Advik Hi-tech to form JV with Aussie firm H2X

 

Advik Hi-Tech, a Pune-based company which manufactures auto components, has tied-up with an Australia company called H2X, for producing fuel cells, generators and vehicles in India. The Melbourne, Australia-based H2X will have a 49% stake in the JV company with Advik, which has more than $100 million in annual revenues. 

Advik Hi-Tech Pvt Ltd has successfully entered into a Joint Venture agreement with H2X Global Limited for the production of critical components for hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen-powered products, Advik has said in a LinkedIn post.

 
Launching immediately H2X and ADVIK will begin production of H2X's Series of Fuel Cell Powered Generators. H2X currently has several of these units in deployment in Australia. The first generators manufactured by the joint venture will be put into service with a large-scale power system providing emission-free power for ADVIK's state-of-the-art Research and Development Centre located in Pune, India. 
 
"India is destined to be a leader in the Hydrogen Industry with strong support from Government and Industry. As a company which has always been ahead of the curve, we are aggressively pushing into the Hydrogen space as a core growth area for our company and as a leader of this movement in the country," says Aditya Bhartia, Managing Director for ADVIK Hi-Tech. "We have great confidence in the product range from H2X as being one with several key opportunities to support to the deployment of Hydrogen in the Indian Market and together with our local knowledge and expertise we see great opportunity to develop this for the acceleration of the Indian Clean Energy movement." 
 
Brendan Norman, CEO of H2X believes that the Indian Market is critical to the long-term success of the Hydrogen Industry and that the partnership with ADVIK will be critical to the growth of the company. "We have long believed India is one of the great manufacturing powers of the world and we have found a great player in the automotive Industry in ADVIK. The cooperation between our companies gives us great strength in being able to address India but also to provide us with a strong Manufacturing Backbone to support our production activities in Australia and other parts of the world as well." 

Free transmission of power for G-H2, Budget incentives

As Indian federal government’s annual budget revelation, which happens on February 1 every year comes closer, much focus has been on what the finance minister will say or do for green hydrogen. 

In this context, the power minister, Mr R K Singh, has been quoted by the Indian Express newspaper as saying that electricity meant for producing green hydrogen would be allowed to be transmitted to the electrolyzer plant free of any transmission charges. 

This, the minister said at a recent conference organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) that the National Green Hydrogen Policy document would be brought out very soon – perhaps days after the Budget. 

Minister R K Singh

In the green hydrogen policy “we are saying that we will give free transmission of electricity for 25 years,” the Indian Express report quotes Singh as saying. The minister said that one could generate power in Rajasthan and transport it to Guwahati and produce green hydrogen there,” free of transmission charges.  

Giving a sneak preview about the policy, the minister said that it would provide for lands in renewable energy parks and bunkers at ports for storage of green hydrogen and green ammonia, with a view to making India a green hydrogen production centre for the whole world.  

Meanwhile, many experts have predicted that the Budget would provide incentives for green hydrogen. A report in Financial Express quotes Venkatesh Raman Prasad, Partner in the law firm, J Sagar Associates, as saying that “While 2021 saw the launch of National Hydrogen Mission, it is likely that the Budget may provide for targeted fiscal incentives for R&D in green hydrogen segment, creation of domestic supply chain for hydrogen and reduce customs duties on electrolysers to boost green hydrogen production.” says Venkatesh Raman Prasad, Partner, J Sagar Associates (JSA). 

Prasad is of the view that India’s commitment at COP 26 of achieving net zero emissions by 2070 and meet 50 per cent of energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030 shows that the government intends to focus on cleaner sources of energy. 

Hemant Mallya, Senior Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) opines that green hydrogen has many industrial uses and can potentially decarbonise many hard-to-abate sectors, like the iron and steel industry. He says that an outlay of Rs 1,200 crore by 2024 in the upcoming Budget could trigger pilots in various end-use applications such as testing green hydrogen readiness of natural gas pipelines, underground hydrogen storage, and pilots for equipment such as furnaces, boilers, and process heaters. 

He suggests that another Rs 165 crore could support R&D, especially on catalysts and electrolyser membranes, finding substitutes for critical minerals, setting up testing labs and enforcing safety standards. These investments would help indigenize green hydrogen production and use as an industrial fuel, he opines. 

 

Desperation shows through L&T's MoU with HydrogenPro of Norway

L&T, India’s biggest engineering and construction company, has tied up with HydrogenPro of Norway for setting up “GW-scale manufacturing” of alkaline water electrolysers in India. The MoU, signed today, says the two companies will “jointly work towards the setting up of a joint venture”.  

A press release issued by L&T today says that HydrogenPro was founded in 2013 by individuals with background from the electrolysis industry, which was established in Telemark, Norway by Norsk Hydro in 1927. We are an experienced engineering team of leading industry experts, drawing upon unparalleled experience and expertise in the hydrogen and renewable energy industry. 

“Our core product is the alkaline high-pressure electrolyser. With the new electrode technology, they are able to increase the efficiency of each unit by 14% to reach 93% of the theoretical maximum. This is a significant step forward as the cost of electric power, depending on market prices, amounts to 70-90% of the cost of producing hydrogen, the value of such increased efficiency equals approximately the investment cost for the entire plant in a Total Cost of Operation perspective. The Company is targeting a production cost for green hydrogen of USD 1.2 per kg in 2022,” the release says.  

Comment 

As mentioned in this blog earlier, the alkaline technology is an old one, which is on the way out. The in-market technologies are PEM and SOEC, while the upcoming one is AEM. So then why did L&T opt for an old technology? 

The answer perhaps lies in the fact that electrolyser manufacturers around the world are extremely busy today. They have little time for a market like India, which requires enormous amount of patience. And, any electrolyser company that wishes to have a foot in the Indian market will come in by itself, and wouldn’t need a local partner. Thus, it is a matter of conjecture that only such companies who have a technology that doesn’t sell anywhere else would come to India, via a local partner. 

It is not that L&T is naïve not to know this; only it doesn’t have a choice.  This MoU does seem to show some desparateness on the part of L&T, whose boilers and turbines business (with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) has only a fading future.

The press release gives no further information—perhaps there is nothing more to say. However, the two contact email addresses “for more information” are both of HydrogenPro and not one from L&T. This is rather odd and perhaps indicates that L&T has yet to make up its mind about electrolysers, but HydrogenPro wanted to publicize the MoU. 

In October last year, L&T had said that it was studying the feasibility of getting into the manufacture of electrolysers. Subsequently, it tied-up with ReNew Power, India’s largest renewable energy company, under which the two would “jointly develop, build, execute and operate” green hydrogen plants in India.  

It does look like L&T, under some pressure to arm itself with technology, needed a know-how supplier. Hence this MoU.  

It remains to be seen whether this MoU actually translates into a manufacturing joint venture. It would be a surprise if it did.