Govt of India to part-fund pilot plants that use G-H2 for steel production

It has been proposed to set up pilot plants, with part-funding from the government of India, "to explore the feasibility of using green hydrogen in Direct Reduced Iron production, partly replacing natural gas with hydrogen, the Union Steel Minister, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, has told the Parliament.

In a written statement to a question, the Minister has said:

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has proposed setting up of National Hydrogen Energy Mission with an aim to develop and scale up green hydrogen production technology, make it affordable and widely accessible. 

The steel sector has also been made a stakeholder in the Mission. 

Under this initiative, it has been proposed to set up pilot plants with part funding from Government to explore the feasibility of using green H2 in Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) production, by partly replacing natural gas with H2 in gas based DRI plants. Based on the success of the pilot projects, the gas based DRI units shall be encouraged for large scale adoption of the process. 

Green H2 is produced through electrolysis of water using electricity produced from renewable energy. Green H2 is not commercially viable at present. However, with declining costs of renewable power generation and electrolysers, production of green hydrogen is likely to become cost competitive in future.

Supply crunch threatens to delay green-hydrogen fuel project

Supply crunch of components in the auto industry is threatening to stall the pilot project of running buses on green hydrogen fuel cells, being implemented by Tata Motors and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), says a report in Business Line. Sources said the delay in supply of critical components is threatening to prolong the field trials of the much-awaited project.

Quoting "sources close to the development", the report says that Tata Motors is yet to supply the buses on which the trials are to be done.

Here is what the report says:

Why the delay

“Ideation, planning, etc have taken place. The pace has been slowed as buses are yet to be supplied on which tests are to be done,” the report quotes sources at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG). Another government official said the delivery is taking time due to supply disruption and the delay in receiving components. It is understood that the buses will be made by Tata Motors, but it is not clear whether Tata is working on green hydrogen-based engine or if it is importing critical components from countries like China, Japan or South Korea, they said.

Recap

Tata Motors, in June last year, had announced that it won a tender of 15 hydrogen-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell buses from IOCL, which had invited bids in December 2020. In addition to supplying the buses to the Research & Development Centre of IOCL, Tata Motors said it would also collaborate with them to undertake R&D projects and collectively study the potential of fuel cell technology for commercial vehicles. 

“This will be done by jointly testing, maintaining and operating these buses for public transport in real-world conditions in Delhi-NCR. The buses will be re-fuelled by hydrogen, generated and dispensed by IOCL,” it had said. The company had also said “all the 15 buses will be delivered within 144 weeks from the date of signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)“.

Meanwhile, sources at Tata Motors clarified that the initial supply of two buses are already with IOCL for trials and the rest are supposed to be supplied by 2023 (144 weeks from the date of MoU), which the company would make it.

Non-urea fertilizers must go 100 % green hydrogen by 2030, says Amitabh Kant

One of the suggestions made by the Amitabh Kant, CEO of the government's think-tank, Niti Aayog, is for all non-urea fertilizer plants to go 100 per cent green hydrogen. 

Kant, in an article in Economic Times, has outlined how India can become a global green hydrogen manufacturing hub. He stresses that Europe is planning to import a lot of green hydrogen and India should not miss the opportunity.

"India is one of the early movers in the green hydrogen space," writes Kant. There are multiple reasons why India is pursuing this with vigour and conviction.

He further writes:

Firstly, neither hydrogen nor electrolyser is a new technology. More than 70 million tons of hydrogen is produced annually across the world, with India clocking around 8% of global production.

Secondly, India’s distinct advantage in low-cost renewable-energy generation and world-class clean-power execution capabilities makes green hydrogen the most competitive form of hydrogen in the medium run. This enables India to be potentially one of the most competitive producers of green hydrogen in the world. Since 75% of the cost of green hydrogen is dependent on renewable energy, we should target to further bring down the cost of solar power to Rs 1 per Kw/h through lower cost of financing.

Energy security is the third important reason to pursue green hydrogen as it will enable the emergence of a domestically produced energy carrier that can reduce the dependence on fossil fuel imports of $160 bn per year. In addition, with 500 GW renewables expected to come on line by 2030, green hydrogen could act as a solution to extract value out of excess renewable power and avoid the duck curve possibilities in the grid. Key policy measures for creating a green hydrogen ecosystem have recently been announced.

Following are the three steps that will make India a leader in green hydrogen. Firstly, India should make urgent efforts to secure the time-limited export markets. The EU is quadrupling its green hydrogen import plans for 2030. There is huge potential for exports to EU, Japan and South Korea. Secondly, India should encourage industrial R&D in electrolysers and other green hydrogen components. Indian companies cannot be dependent on foreign technology suppliers.

We need to industrialise next-generation hydrogen technologies in India.

Thirdly, industrial applications such as refining and non-urea fertilisers have to be mandated to go 100% green hydrogen by 2030 to ensure economies of scale for this nascent industry to flourish. With these measures, the price of green hydrogen should fall from $4 per kg to $1 per kg by 2030. With proper policy support, industry action, market generation and increased investor interest, India can position itself as a low-cost, zero-carbon green hydrogen manufacturing hub of the world.

Greenko, John Cockerill partner to develop India’s ‘largest’ green hydrogen electrolyser Gigafactory

 

India will receive a boost to its hydrogen prospects with John Cockerill and Greenko partnering to develop India’s “largest” green hydrogen electrolyser Gigafactory, says H2View.com. 

The new Gigafactory will target a capacity of 2GW which will also help to substitute 8% of India LNG imports.

This could greatly enhance the Indian hydrogen economy and provides a means to produce the clean energy carrier from the country’s abundance of renewable energy sources.

Targeting the production of pressurised alkaline technology provided by John Cockerill is well suited to large-scale hydrogen applications and, when coupled with Greenko’s technology, can produce the lowest levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH).

This could be a crucial for India and its hydrogen ecosystem and will be enable the scaling of the industry with the electrolysers able to deliver hydrogen at 30 bars at the highest purity level.

Anil Chalamalasetty, CEO & Managing Director of Greenko, said, “Greenko is working towards re-industrialisation solutions for a low-carbon economy. We are partnering with a world-class technology partner in John Cockerill and will jointly develop large-scale green molecule projects in India, which will accelerate the creation of a hydrogen economy.

“This partnership will not only help curtail India’s energy imports; it will also facilitate a turnaround to enable energy exports. And it will strengthen India’s green hydrogen ambitions as part of a wider renewable energy program that will see India run the world’s largest energy transition program.”

Raphael Tilot, CEO of John Cockerill Renewables, said, “The fight against climate change is part of our mission, and this partnership with Greenko will enable us to contribute to India’s sub-continent emergence as a new green energy hub

“India and neighbouring countries have abundant natural resources, a large domestic market and the potential to cater to the growth of this market regionally and globally. On the human side, collaboration between Indian and Belgian team have made good progress and we are very confident on the future developments.”

KPIT partners with OEMs for H2 generation from biomass

Pune-based KPIT, a leading global automotive solutions provider, has tied up with a clutch of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the auto sector to produce hydrogen from biomass such as wheat and rice straw, reports Financial Express.

The hydrogen through biomass can be produced through microbial action on wheat and rice straw and also by burning wood, the report says.

Unlike batteries that occupy lot of space and affect the payload of transporters, hydrogen as a fuel from biomass can address two important issues the industry is facing — high cost of batteries, and space for batteries on vehicles.

The report quotes Ravi Pandit, chairman of KPIT Technologies, as saying, “The price of hydrogen produced from biomass is lot more economical at around $3 per kg compared with $5 per kg for green hydrogen. Also, the fuel cell doesn’t occupy as much space as EV batteries that affect the pay load of transporters.” The company has two plants running on the bio waste, he said.

The technology provider believes India generates around 200 million tonne of bio waste, excluding earth waste and has the potential to meet its clean fuel requirement. “As hydrogen can be produced from anywhere across the country there can be distributed generation and consumption centres. It is my belief it can be the cheapest form of fuel in coming future,” Pandit.

                                    Ravi Pandit

Hydrogen can meet the entire intercity travel requirement of 4.5 million tonne of fuel by 2030, provided hydrogen adoption happens aggressively.The usage of abundant waste can not just address the issues related to pollution, import substitution of fuel and create a source of income for farmers on a long term basis, Pandit said.

On April 3, Sentient Labs, an innovation hub incubated by KPIT Technologies in association with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and National Chemical Laboratory, showcased a bus that runs on hydrogen fuel cells.

“We believe that the bus design which we demonstrated is highly efficient and can make the hydrogen economy possible in India,” Pandit said.

IIT-Hyderabad to host centre for biomass, waste-energy conversion into Hydrogen

The Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad will host a centre on 'Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platform on Bioenergy and Hydrogen', which "aims to accelerate the development of ultra-efficient commercially biomass and waste-water to hydrogen conversion and storage systems through accelerated discovery of novel catalysts, novel storage systems and materials and optimised plant condition designs," according to a press release from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. 

The project will be implemented jointly between a team of scientists from 09 partnering institutes, the release says.

This is one of the three Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms that were launched at the MI Annual Gathering session on 4^th April 2022, where new Energy Innovation Collaborations were announced.

These Material Acceleration Platforms set up by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) would leverage emerging capabilities in next-generation computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and robotics to accelerate the pace of materials discovery up to 10 times faster, the release says. The platforms constitute a knowledge network of more than 38 elite institutions and 80 research personnel working on next-generation low-cost advanced energy materials.

In addition, the Science Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh announced funding opportunity of 'Hydrogen Valley Platform', which is also a global initiative to optimise the hydrogen demand and supply by onsite generation and utilisation, utilise the renewable resources effectively, and water excess areas with geographical identity.

 "The H2 Valleys objectives will be achieved through cohorts of clean hydrogen valleys to combine the complete hydrogen value chain (production, storage and transportation) with the aim of reaching critical scale and unlocking learning curve effects. DST has committed to facilitate the delivery of three clean hydrogen valleys in India by 2030," the release says.

IOC, L&T, ReNew for JV for G-hydrogen

Three Indian companies, Indian Oil Corporation, L&T and ReNew Power, each the leader in its own field, have joined hands to form a joint venture to "develop green hydrogen sector in India", reports the Business Line newspaper. 

The proposed JVs aim to enable India’s transition from a grey hydrogen economy to a greener economy that increasingly manufactures hydrogen via electrolysis powered by renewable energy, the report says. 

IOC is a major producer of grey hydrogen today, which it uses captively. In the coming times, it would have to bear a government-imposed green hydrogen purchase obligation. ReNew is the country's leading renewable energy company and can supply clean energy for hydrogen production. L&T is the country's largest engineering company and intends to get into the manufacture of electrolysers. As such, there is a good fit among the three companies.

The tripartite venture is a synergistic alliance that brings together the strong credentials of L&T in designing, executing, and delivering EPC projects, IndianOil’s established expertise in petroleum refining along with its presence across the energy spectrum, and the expertise of ReNew in offering and developing utility-scale renewable energy solutions.

Additionally, IndianOil and L&T have signed a binding term sheet to form a JV with equity participation to manufacture and sell electrolysers used in the production of green hydrogen.

Speaking about the joint venture, SN Subrahmanyan, CEO & MD, L&T, said, “India plans to rapidly march ahead in its decarbonisation efforts and production of green hydrogen is key in this endeavour. The IndianOil-L&T-ReNew JV will focus on developing green hydrogen projects in a time-bound manner to supply green hydrogen at an industrial scale. While L&T will bring its strong EPC credentials to the table, IOC being India’s premier oil refiner with extensive capabilities in chemical processes and refining has established deep R&D capabilities in many aspects of green hydrogen value chain, and ReNew Power has in a short time established itself as a leading renewable energy supplier and has built itself a very strong reputation. We consider this partnership as a significant step in India’s quest for alternative energy.”

On the JV, Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil, said, “To start with, this partnership will focus on green hydrogen projects at our Mathura and Panipat refineries. Alongside, other green hydrogen projects in India will also be evaluated. While the usage of hydrogen in the mobility sector will take its due time, the refineries, however, will be the pivot around which India’s green hydrogen revolution will materialise in a substantial way.”

Sumant Sinha, Chairman and CEO of ReNew Power said, “In alignment with the government’s broader strategic climate goals for 2030 and 2070 set by honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ReNew looks forward to working with L&T and IndianOil to build the green hydrogen business in India. ReNew, as a leader in intelligent energy solutions and with advanced capability across renewable energy technologies, is well poised to complement the capabilities of our partners.”

The Centre in February notified the Green Hydrogen Policy aimed at boosting production of green hydrogen and green ammonia to help the nation become a global hub for the environmentally friendly version of the element.

For countries like India, with its ever-increasing oil and gas import bill, green hydrogen can also help provide crucial energy security by reducing the overall dependence on imported fossil fuels.

While nearly all hydrogen produced in India today is grey, it is estimated that demand for Hydrogen will be 12 MMT by 2030 and around 40 per cent of the element produced in the country (around 5 MMT) will be green, as per the guidelines in the Draft National Hydrogen Mission.

By 2050, nearly 80 per cent of India’s hydrogen is projected to be ‘green’ — produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis. Green hydrogen may become the most competitive route for hydrogen production by around 2030. This may be driven by potential cost declines in key production technologies and in clean energy technologies such as solar PV and wind turbines.

Today, hydrogen is mainly used in the refining, steel and fertiliser sectors, which will be the focus of the JV’s initial efforts. The country’s refining sector consumes approximately 2 MMT of grey hydrogen every year, with IndianOil owning one of the largest shares of its refining output.

Megha group to invest in energy transition in Italy, through subsidiary

Drillmec, a Piacenza-based company in the Oil and Gas sector, part of Indian infrastructure giant, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) group, informed on Friday that its board has approved the investment plan for over 35 million euros in energy transition, The New Indian Express has reported.

The company, jointly with the Indian parent company MEIL, will produce hydrogen through the most advanced technologies available such as electrolysis, pyrolysis, and the design and construction of CO2 capture and storage systems. 

In this context, Drillmec has launched the company Idrogena, a start-up dedicated to the development and industrial production of a pyrolytic converter for the production of ultra-clean hydrogen. “We are pleased to announce this new initiative in our country which is consistent with our history, which is to innovate and develop responsible and safe technologies capable of incorporate energy, social and environmental needs,” said Simone Trevisani, CEO of Drillmec SpA.

The company said that with the converter, the production of hydrogen can take place at destination in a capillary manner, thus significantly reducing transport costs and working around the low energy content of hydrogen.

This announcement follows another press release from the Megha group, in January, which said that Drillmec would invest $ 200 million in setting up a global manufacturing hub in Hyderabad, with focus on Hydrogen. "We are interested in future investment in the Hydrogen fuel project in India.

Simone Trevisani, CEO Drillmec SpA, said in the release. The Hyderabad manufacturing hub will focus on rig manufacturing and ancillaries. This facility also sets up the R&D and training centre of excellence. We have already 3 manufacturing facilities in Italy, USA (Houston), and Belarus. After considering many offers from various countries, we choose Telangana, India, as it has a progressive industrial policy and investor-friendly. We will ensure that this manufacturing hub creates an employment opportunities for about 2,500 people."

Mr. Simone Trevisani, CEO, Drillmec SpA and Mr Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary to TS Govt, exchanging the signed MoU

KPMG releases report on Green Hydrogen in India

KPMG, the global consultancy, has released a report titled 'India's Green Hydrogen Ambition: Setting the wheels in motion', in which it says that the demand for hydrogen, by 2030, would double to 12 mtpa; a fifth to a third of it would be for green hydrogen. 

By 2030, if the scenario plays out as expected, green hydrogen demand could comprise 20-30 per cent of the overall hydrogen demand which is expected to jump to almost double at ~12 MTPA.

Excerpts from the report:

** The transitions are likely to be fuelled by decarbonization pressures faced by these sectors as well as improvement in cost economics of green hydrogen. Beyond ‘drop in’ applications concerted efforts would be needed for adoption as these may require significant capex and process changes for changing the fuel/feedstock used.

Especially in industrial manufacturing where India is in the midst of a capex cycle it is essential to signal to capital to be deployed for green technologies and applications, including for green hydrogen.

For this to happen reasonable visibility on costs is needed. Aided by various policy measures, it is estimated that by 2030, the hydrogen costs will come down by 50 per cent.

These estimates can be aided by factors such as carbon pricing, further scale-led decline in electrolyser costs and innovations across the value chain to bring down cost and improve efficiencies.

** Government of India, on February 17, 2022, launched the Green Hydrogen Policy aiming at boosting the domestic production of green hydrogen to 5 MTPA by 2030, half of the EU’s target of 10 MTPA, and making India an export hub for the energy source.

At its core, the policy seeks facilitate green hydrogen adoption by bringing down the costs of green hydrogen and improving ease of setting up green hydrogen projects.

** Delivered costs of green hydrogen is typically driven by four main elements – renewable energy generation cost, cost of transportation, electrolyser capital costs, and operating costs. Transportation of hydrogen in the form of molecules over long distances is not cost economical at this time.

** Instead, the typical approach would be to transmit the electrical energy over the power transmission system and produce green hydrogen at or close to the consumption location. Using this model, the cost of green hydrogen production is estimated to be around INR 320-330 per kg (KPMG India Estimates). Cost of transmission typically constituted about 25-35 per cent of the cost of green hydrogen (pre-policy situation). Currently, the focus of India’s present policy is largely around the electricity transmission ecosystem.

TUV Nord bags TIDCO contract for examining green hydrogen feasibility in Tamil Nadu

The job of examining the feasibility and the roadmap for green hydrogen in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has gone to the German technical consultancy service producer, TUV Nord. The job is to advise the state on setting up a Tamil Nadu Green Hydrogen Cluster (TNGHC)

The consultancy has won the job answering a January 2022 tender of the Tamil Nadu state government's industrial promotion body, Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation, better known as TIDCO.

The job has to be completed in 90 days, people in the know has told this blog.

The tender document said: "TIDCO is desirous to evaluate and make a strategic decision on investing in the green hydrogen sector for Tamil Nadu. In this context, TIDCO proposes to engage consultants for Preliminary Evaluation Study and Pre-Feasibility Study of Potential Investments into Green Hydrogen Cluster in Tamil Nadu."

The study should comprise of high level investigation on the availability of resources, regulatory aspects, investor potential in TNGHC, indicative financial investments and returns and international benchmarks and trends. The consultants should submit a report and a recommendation on the feasibility of green hydrogen production and the establishment of TNGHC. The consultants should also make a recommendation on TIDCO’s role in the same, the tender document said.

Evaluating the resources required for establishing a successful green hydrogen cluster and the availability and sustainability of the same in South Tamil Nadu. The report will also provide international benchmarks.

Green Energy needs to be supplied to the Tamil Nadu Green Hydrogen Cluster. The consultants will engage with TNEB and its subsidiary entities. The consultants will also engage with independent renewable energy power producers.

Netherlands offers to facilitate import of Indian green hydrogen into Europe

The Netherlands has offered to facilitate import of Indian green hydrogen into Europe, in addition to buying "significant quantities" of green hydrogen for its own use, reports the Business Line newspaper. 

This assumes significance against the backdrop of Europe desiring alternatives to Russian natural gas. “One of the alternatives is green hydrogen. As it happens, it is one of the goals for India to become a net exporter of green hydrogen; we could become a net importer, because the Netherlands doesn’t have enough space to produce all the green hydrogen ourselves,” Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, Climate Envoy of The Netherlands, has told visiting Indian journalists. 

                                                Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme

The war in Ukraine has put dialogue around energy dependence on a faster mode. There is a need for alternatives to Russian gas. 

The report says that green hydrogen is derived from water electrolysis using renewable energy like solar or wind. Biomass-based hydrogen production technologies also qualify under the green category. On the other hand, brown and grey hydrogen are produced through coal gasification and natural gas reforming, respectively. These production pathways generate a significant amount of carbon dioxide. Integration with appropriate carbon capture and utilisation technologies results in blue hydrogen.

Focus area

Indian Oil has already announced setting up the nation’s first ‘Green Hydrogen’ plant at its Mathura refinery. Hydrogen being the cleanest form of energy is the latest focus area across the globe to satiate the rising energy needs. 

According to Parme, the requirement for green hydrogen is not just for the energy-intensive industry, but also for transport and household usages. Potentially, gas could be replaced by green hydrogen. “The Netherlands is well-positioned to be your gateway to the rest of Europe, with the Port of Rotterdam as Europe’s biggest port, linking Northern European countries, including Germany and Belgium,” he said, adding that there’s a potential to explore for two countries.

According to calculations by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), India needs about $42 billion over the period till 2030 per year for the annual renewal energy investments.

Netherlands is the fifth biggest Foreign Direct Investor in India. So, “you can expect to see these investments shifting from fossil fuels to renewals, going forward”, he said.

Talking about potential in industry for use of green hydrogen, he said he is in dialogue with the industry because they should be placing orders. “So, the question is how do we structure it and what infrastructure do we need. Are you going to ship hydrogen as ammonia or in frozen form? All that needs to be agreed to see which way is the best. Right now, Singapore and Japan are the furthest developed in importing green hydrogen, so we are looking at them also to set the standard and to see what is the standard going forward,” he said. 

Netherlands is working with India on an MoU on Renewable Energy. It has MoU’s with quite a few countries as an open agreement to see and explore how we can work together. “There are several areas of collaboration, such as research, knowledge, building plants and infrastructure such as ports and solar and wind generation. All these areas need to be mapped out and severely reduce emissions if we are to preserve a futureproof planet,” he said.

The MoU is expected to be taken up during the visit of President Ram Nath Kovid to Netherlands next month.