Avaada to put up 4GW of RE plants to support 1 mtpa green ammonia ambition

The Avaada group, which plans to build a 1 million-tons-a-year green ammonia project, is working towards putting up 4 GW of renewable energy capacity to support the ambition. The renewable energy will be used to split water and produce green hydrogen, a raw material for green ammonia.  

The venture into green ammonia would call for around 210,000 tons per annum of green hydrogen production.

3GW of solar capacity is coming up in Rajasthan; when it will be commissioned in 2026-27, it might, well be the country’s largest single location solar plant, Vineet Mittal, Chairman, Avaada Group, reports businessline. 

Manufacturing electrolysers

Avaada also intends to get into the manufacture of electrolysers, for which it is in talks with a few foreign companies.

Overall, Avaada would invest $5 billion into the green ammonia business, Mittal said. 

Avaada was born in 2016, soon after Welspun Renewable Energy, co-founded by Mittal that had a portfolio of 1.14 GW of renewable energy assets, was sold off to Tata Power Renewables for ₹9,250 crore. Today, Avaada has 4GW of wind and solar plants in operation; another 7 GW is planned, including 1 GW under construction. 

Total's pause may hit Adani's green hydrogen venture

 

Total Energies' decision to pause $4-billion investment in a green hydrogen venture with Adani Group, pending audits of the Indian conglomerate accused of fraud by an US investor, will impact the project’s growth funding as the French energy major was to also guarantee half of its debt, reports Economic Times.

This could be a big blow for the new venture’s timelines of production of green hydrogen at $1 per kg by 2030.

Indian PSU refiners to set up 137,000 tpa green hydrogen facility by 2030

 The Indian public sector oil refineries have together planned to set up 137 kilo tonnes per annum (ktpa) of green hydrogen facilities by 2030. 

This was revealed by Dr S S V Ramakumar, Director – R&D, Indian Oil Corporation, at the India Energy Week, held recently in Bengaluru. Participating in a panel discussion on green hydrogen, Ramakumar said Indian Oil would first put up a 7 ktpa electrolysis plant at its Panipat refinery. 

He pointed out that IOC had entered into an agreement with the renewable energy company, ReNew Power and the engineering major, L&T, for putting up green hydrogen plants, not only for IOC but for other refiners also. 

Technology quadrilemma 

“The last word on the (green hydrogen production) technology has not yet been spoken,” he said, noting that even if one were to assume that electrolysis of water is the only pathway to produce green hydrogen, still we are not very sure as to which type of electrolysers is the best. 

There are two mature technologies, alkaline and PEM, and both have their own merits and demerits, Ramakumar said. The third one, solid oxide, “which is projected to be a super-duper technology, is at TRL 3 or 4.” (TRL is ‘technology readiness level’; level 3 or 4 refers to quite low levels of readiness.) 

“But there is a fourth kid on the block, which is going to address the demerits of both the mature technologies, which is called anion exchange membrane, or AEM – for the simple fact that it (AEM) doesn’t employ any platinum group of metals. “It is based on transition elements, so it is much cheaper, and the electrolyte is also much dilute—so lot of problems are solved,” said the Director R&D.  

Even that technology is TRL 2 or 3, he said. 

As a country, all the research institutions need to concentrate on AEM technology—if we want to adopt the electrolysis technology pathway, Ramakumar said. 

(While Ramakumar has said that ‘solid oxide’ and AEM are at low technology readiness levels, an industry expert who participated in the India Energy Week, told businessline that solid oxide electrolysers are already in the market. For example, the US company, Bloom Energy, sells solid oxide electrolysers. Also, a Pune-based company called H2e Power, has already supplied AEM electrolysers to Oil India Ltd and is getting ready to showcase its home-grown AEM electroloysers (though developed with the help of the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany) at the upcoming Hannover Messe fair later this year. Business Line has earlier reported that H2e Power will start producing electrolysers at Jalagaon, Maharashtra in April. Indeed, the company intends to also use solid oxide electrolysers, which operate at high temperatures, to convert carbon dioxide into ‘syn gas’ (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen), and then use the syn gas to produce ‘sustainable aviation fuels’.) 

Biomass is the best 

While IOC has planned green hydrogen production by electrolysis, i.e., splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity, Ramakumar said that the biomass gasification was a better way of producing green hydrogen in India. 

Noting that there is a debate as to whether electrolysis is the only pathway or there are other “India-centric technologies”, Ramakumar said,“ my own personal view is that biomass gasification is the most promising green hydrogen pathway, especially to achieve the aspirational target of 1:1:1 (achieving a price of $1 per kg of green hydrogen in one decade.)” 

Describing the biomass route as “very, very promising”, he said that the route does not suffer from the demerits of electrolysers, a big one of which is the need for large quantities water. While sea water electrolysis is being “intensely looked into” today’s electrolysers require pure water, Ramakumar said. 

The view that the biomass route is better is shared by many experts. For example, Ravi Pandit, Chairman and C-founder, KPIT Technologies, wrote in a newspaper recently that while a kg of hydrogen produced by electrolysis costs ₹600-800, which translates to 45-50 per cent higher than diesel in vehicles, small, decentralised biomass plants can produce green hydrogen for ₹250 a kg.

Greenko to invest $6 b into pumped storage, green ammonia business in next 3 years

 The Greenko group, which is building the world’s largest pumped hydro storage facility—1,680 MW—near Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, spending “upwards of a billion dollars” for that purpose, plans three more such facilities, in the next three years. Two of these will be roughly of the same size and the third one-and-half times as big, reports Business Line. Together, these will have a storage capacity of 50 GWhr. 

The Kurnool plant is expected to be commissioned by December this year. A third of the power will be supplied to Greenko’s green hydrogen and green ammonia facility coming up at the port city of Kakinada, from where the green ammonia will be exported.  

In all, Greenko will invest $6 billion into this business, the Chief Operating Officer of Greenko ZeroC Pvt Ltd, Gautam Reddy, told businessline, at the India Energy Week, held in Bengaluru last week. 

In the same event, BC Tripathi, who is a Senior Advisor at Greenko, said that the group would produce 3 million tons per year of green ammonia.

The first shipment will happen by December 2025. 

Incidentally, Greenko has entered into a MoU with Germany’s Uniper, under which it would supply 250,000 tons a year of green ammonia to the German company. 

Pumped storage 

The pumped storage facility coming up at the Pinnapuram village of the Kurnool district, is the world’s biggest. It is completely “off-stream”, which means it is a closed loop, where water moves from lower reservoir to the upper and back, as required. The electricity for pumping the water to the upper reservoir comes from Greenko’s 1,000 MW of solar and 550 MW of wind plants. 

The facility can supply peak-time electricity for 6 hours. A part of the power has been contracted to be sold at a tariff of ₹4.23 a kWhr—cheaper than the price of electricity from new coal projects, Reddy said, adding that the company had brought in many innovations in the design of the project. 

He said that electricity from a pumped storage of this scale would be 60-65 per cent cheaper than a grid-scale battery storage. 

Also, pumped storage will be the “true carbon-free” renewable energy, because wind and solar still need coal power to balance their intermittency on the grid, Reddy said. 

Assuming that the electricity that would go into Greenko’s electrolysers that manufacture green hydrogen is also priced at ₹4.23 a kWhr, Reddy said that the company would be able to produce green hydrogen at the same price as the grey hydrogen produced from LNG that is imported at the current prices of around $15 a MMBTU. 

Strategic diversification 

Greenko, which has 7.5 GW of renewable energy capacity, is now onto a “strategic diversification” into storage and is moving from ‘green electrons’ (renewable energy) to ‘green molecules’ (hydrogen and ammonia). 

As such, the group will no longer put-up renewable energy projects, though it does not also intend to sell off its renewable energy assets, Reddy said. 

Greenko has also set up a joint venture with John Cockreill of Belgium for building a 1 GW alkaline electrolyser plant. “It is almost 50:50 JV,” Reddy said. 

LATEST STORIES

 

European Investment Bank joins India Hydrogen Alliance

Greenko to supply green ammonia to Germany's Uniper

Reliance showcases Hydrogen powered truck at India Energy Week

TOTAL puts on hold proposed investment in Adani's $50b hydrogen venture

Tata Power plans pilot project for green hydrogen

Triton EV - the first Indian company to introduce Hydrogen trucks

Need for diversified sources of green hydrogen highlighted

Fluitron sets up India's first domestically manufactured hydrogen dispenser near Delhi

Jefferies values Reliance's green hydrogen business at $ 8 b

Adani to bring in mining trucks of Ashok Leyland make with Ballard's fuel cell engines

Empowered Committee headed by cabinet secretary to guide green hydrogen policy implementation

Oil ministry will ask public sector refiners to come out with a roadmap for green hydrogen soon

Govt may invite bids for green hydrogen in May

NTPC commissions India's first green hydrogen blending project

The Green Billions bid to extract Hydrogen from waste, in Pune

H2E Power to start manufacturing electrolysers in India, will be No.2 after Ohmium

EIB backs green hydrogen deployment and joins India Hydrogen Alliance

 

• EIB and India Hydrogen Alliance to bring industry, investors and government agencies together on green hydrogen hubs and projects
• Indicative funding of €1 billion for large-scale projects in the public sector
• EIB working with the Indian government on a credit facility to provide critical public-sector investments supporting the development of the green hydrogen industry

Today in Mumbai Kris Peeters, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank of the European Union, formally agreed to join the India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) and increase support for large-scale green hydrogen hubs and projects across India with indicative funding of €1 billion, subject to Indian government and EIB approvals.

EIB Vice-President Kris Peeters said: “The European Investment Bank recognises the huge potential of developing and reducing the cost of green hydrogen in India. Together with industry, national government and state authorities we are exploring how the EU bank might play a role in supporting India’s National Hydrogen Mission to enable the use of green hydrogen to decarbonise energy, industry and transport. Increased cooperation through the India Hydrogen Alliance will help to implement a national green hydrogen roadmap that delivers India’s energy transition and net-zero carbon plans while strengthening energy security in the years ahead. Joining IH2A builds on the EIB’s global climate engagement and support for climate action in India over the last three decades.”

Jillian Evanko, President and CEO of Chart Industries and Founding Member of IH2A, said: “We are delighted to partner with the EIB to bring much needed funding to help develop the green hydrogen economy in India. Funding for large-scale green hydrogen projects is nascent and the EIB’s participation will help solve a key ecosystem problem. We look forward to working closely with the EIB, investors, industry and the government to help commercialise hydrogen at scale over the next half decade. This is essential to getting the first few steps of the hydrogen transition right, before we look at 2030 scenarios.”

EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto said: “In September the First EU-India Green Hydrogen Forum was held in Delhi during European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson’s visit, strengthening EU-India clean energy cooperation. The European Investment Bank joining the India Hydrogen Alliance today further highlights a Team Europe approach for a green and resilient future, underpinning the EU Global Gateway strategy.”

The European Investment Bank is the world’s largest international public bank and the globe’s leading financier of renewable energy and climate action. As a longstanding partner for renewable energy in India and the largest climate financier in the world, the new memorandum of understanding with IH2A will enable the EIB to further support clean energy investment and back the development of green hydrogen in India.

IH2A is focusing on attracting global climate finance for large-scale hydrogen hub development in India, working with the government of India, state governments, global hydrogen players and Indian companies. This memorandum of understanding underpins the Indian government’s confirmation of a $2 billion public finance allocation for the National Hydrogen Mission. This will support IH2A in bringing together global climate finance players and funding agencies to work with industry players and government agencies to plan and execute large-scale green hydrogen projects and develop the green hydrogen economy in India.

The EIB is currently exploring a credit facility with the Indian government to provide investments in key public sectors supporting the development of the green hydrogen industry. This facility would support the Indian government’s efforts to commercialise upcoming green hydrogen technologies and reduce costs through long-term investment in innovation, R&D, green hydrogen hubs, and pilot projects.

The EIB finances green hydrogen investment in Europe and works closely with partners across Africa, Latin America and Asia to accelerate large-scale green hydrogen investment.

This project, supporting climate action, forms part of the EU’s Global Gateway initiative supporting projects that improve global and regional connectivity in the digital, climate, transport, health, energy and education sectors.

Background information

About the EIB:

The EIB brings the experience and expertise of our in-house engineers and economists to help develop and appraise high-quality projects. As an AAA-rated, policy-driven EU financial institution, the EIB offers attractive financial terms — competitive interest rates with loan durations aligned with the projects. Through our partnerships with the European Union and other donors, we can provide grants to further improve the development impact of the projects we support.

About the EIB in India:

Since it began operations in India in 1993, the EIB has supported 26 projects in the country and has invested nearly €5 billion in transport, energy, agriculture, fisheries and forestry projects, and small businesses.

About the EIB in Asia:

For 25 years, the EIB has supported economic development in Asia and the Pacific region. The projects we finance make people’s lives easier — from cutting travel times in Bangalore with a new metro line, to providing cheaper, cleaner energy to western Nepal.

In Asia, we have chosen to focus our lending on climate action across all sectors. We also work to incorporate gender equality in our projects, ensuring that women, men, girls and boys can benefit from projects equally and equitably.

About the Global Gateway initiative

EIB Global is a key partner in the implementation of the EU’s Global Gateway initiative, supporting sound projects that improve global and regional connectivity in the digital, climate, transport, health, energy and education sectors. Investing in connectivity is at the very heart of what EIB Global does thanks to the Bank’s longstanding experience of 60 years. Alongside our partners, fellow EU institutions and EU Member States, we aim to support €100 billion of investment — around one third of the initiative’s overall budget — by the end of 2027.

About the India H2 Alliance (IH2A)

The India H2 Alliance is an industry coalition of global and Indian companies committed to the creation of a hydrogen value chain and to India’s economy. IH2A collaborates with private-sector partners, the government and the public to ensure that hydrogen production costs are reduced, a local supply chain for hydrogen and related applications grows and India is able to achieve its net-zero carbon ambitions by developing a hydrogen economy complementing its national renewable energy and electric vehicle/battery technology plans. The IH2A Steering Group comprises Chart Industries, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the JSW Group, Hero Future Energies and bp, supported by the IH2A Secretariat run by the consulting firm FTI Consulting. More information on IH2A and its activities is available at www.IH2A.com.

Greenko to supply green ammonia to Germany's Uniper

 Greenko Group, backed by GIC Holdings, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Japan’s ORIX Corp, plans to supply green ammonia to Germany’s biggest gas trader Uniper, in what could be the first export deal of the emission-free fuel out of India.

The green ammonia will be supplied from 1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) production facility in Kakinada that is being set up by Greenko Group’s Greenko ZeroC Private Limited.

The two firms on Tuesday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Heads of Terms agreement for exclusive negotiations to supply 250,000 tn per annum of green ammonia to the German major, reports Mint.

This comes in the backdrop of uncertainty over Russian energy supplies to Europe in the wake of Ukraine war. With the US led global coalition comprising of the G7 and the European Union (EU) imposing a price cap on Russian oil and gas, Germany is looking at diversifying its energy sourcing to cater to their own domestic demand.

“Uniper and Greenko ZeroC Private Limited, the green molecule production arm of the Greenko Group, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Heads of Terms for Uniper to enter into exclusive negotiations for the offtake of green ammonia from Phase 1 of Greenko ZeroC’s ammonia production facility in Kakinada," the statement said.

“Aside from Green Ammonia, Uniper and Greenko also intend to collaborate on the deployment of similar flexible renewable electricity to other Hydrogen products such as E-Methanol and Sustainable Aviation Fuels," the statement added.

Green hydrogen is generated by breaking down water in an electrolyzer. The hydrogen produced can be combined with nitrogen to make green ammonia, to be used to store energy and in fertilizer manufacturing.

Greenko also recently partnered with Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp. to jointly explore setting up a 250,000 tonnes green ammonia production facility. Also, Greenko Group and Belgium’s John Cockerill are setting up a 2 GW electrolyzer factory in India, one of the world’s largest, through their joint venture, that will require an investment of $500 million.

Reliance showcases hydrogen-run truck at India Energy Week

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, on Monday, showcased a truck that runs on hydrogen, the cleanest known fuel whose tail emissions are only water and oxygen, at the India Energy Week here, says a report in Business Line.

The Ashok Leyland-manufactured truck with two large hydrogen cylinders was put up at a hall adjacent to the main venue where Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the three-day event that is themed around 'Growth, Collaboration, Transition'.

A display near the truck said this was "India's 1st H2ICE technology truck on road." The truck has "near-zero emissions" when it uses hydrogen as fuel in place of a conventional diesel or even recently introduced liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"H2ICE vehicle performance on-par with diesel ICE," it said. H2 is the formula for hydrogen and ICE stands for internal combustion engine.

India is fast pushing for use of hydrogen, which can be produced by splitting water using electricity. The use of electricity generated from solar and wind qualifies it to be green hydrogen.

Hydrogen finds wide applicability, from refineries to steel plants and fertiliser units where it can replace hydrocarbons. Hydrogen can also be used as fuel in automobiles but its current cost of manufacturing is very high. But this hasn't stopped companies from investing in hydrogen manufacturing.

Adani’s green investment

In January, Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), part of the diversified Adani portfolio of companies, signed an agreement to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada.

The hydrogen-powered mining truck will weigh 55 tons, have three hydrogen tanks, a 200-km working range, and will be powered by Ballard's 120 kW PEM fuel cell technology.

The Adani Group had previously announced its plans to invest more than $50 billion over the next 10 years in green hydrogen and associated ecosystems corresponding to a capacity of up to 3 million tons of green hydrogen annually.

Ambani’s green path

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance too is pivoting a green path, investing in renewable energy power generation, as well as the entire hydrogen ecosystem, as part of its decarbonisation plans.

Reliance is investing ₹6 lakh crore in multiple green energy projects in Gujarat as part of the company's increasingly ambitious decarbonisation drive.

It will invest ₹5 lakh crore over the span of 10 to 15 years to set up 100 GW renewable-energy power plant and green-hydrogen ecosystem development. It has started the process of scouting land for 100 GW renewable energy power projects in Kutch, Banaskantha, and Dholera, and has requested 450,000 acres of land in Kutch.

The company will spend an additional ₹60,000 crore in setting up 'new energy manufacturing', which includes solar modules, electrolysers, batteries for energy storage and fuel cells.

Another ₹25,000 crore will be invested in existing projects and new ventures in the next three to five years.

Reliance, in 2021, first talked of a multi-billion investment plan spanning renewables, storage and hydrogen, including what it claims will be the world's largest green energy equipment 'giga-complex' and a 100GW capacity goal.

The investment over three years would propel Reliance to net-zero emissions status by 2035.

At the display alongside the hydrogen truck, Reliance said the use of hydrogen results in 20 per cent fuel operating expense saving over diesel ICE vehicles. It also results in 10-15 per cent noise reduction over diesel ICE vehicles, it added.

Adani Group plans to invest $20 billion over the next decade in renewable energy generation and component manufacturing, with an aim to become "the producer of the least expensive green electron anywhere in the world".

It intends to triple its renewable power generation capacity over the next four years, become a green-hydrogen producer, power all of its data centres with renewable energy by 2030, achieve net-zero emissions at its ports by 2025, and allocate more than 75 per cent of capital expenditure up to 2025 on green technologies.

 COMMENTS

SHARE

Total puts on hold investment in Adani’s $50-b hydrogen project

 

TotalEnergies has put on hold a planned investment in Adani Group’s $50-billion hydrogen project pending an audit following allegations by a US short-seller, chief executive of the French oil giant Patrick Pouyanne has said.

According to a report in Business Line, while the partnership, with the French giant to take a 25 per cent stake in the hydrogen venture of the Adani Group, was announced in June last year, TotalEnergies has not yet signed a contract, Pouyanne said at an earnings call.

‘Need clarity’

“It makes no sense to add more (projects) until there is clarity. Adani has to explain the allegations,” he said.

TotalEnergies is one of the biggest foreign investors in Adani’s business empire and had previously taken stakes in the group’s renewable energy venture, Adani Green Energy Ltd, and city gas unit Adani Total Gas Ltd.

Per the June 2022 announcement, TotalEnergies was to take 25 per cent equity in Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL), which is to invest $50 billion over 10 years in a green hydrogen ecosystem that includes an initial production capacity of 1 million tonnes before 2030.

‘In compliance’

Total has $3.1 billion investment, said Pouyanne, adding the firm was “happy” with those investments as both Adani Green and Adani Total Gas are performing well. “These companies have assets and revenue and are healthy,” he said.

The French company conducted due diligence before and after investing in the Adani companies, he said. Shares of Adani Green and Adani Total Gas are still up by a factor of two and eight, respectively, since Total invested in them, Pouyanne added.

Last week, the firm said its investments in Adani group companies were in full compliance with the law.

 COMMENTS

SHARE

Tata Power plans pilot in green hydrogen

Tata Power is planning a pilot project in green hydrogen before making a full-fledged foray into the segment, while it is actively exploring investing in battery energy storage for which the Central government announced support in the Budget.

In a media interaction, after announcing the company’s third-quarter results for this fiscal year, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Praveer Singh said the cost of green power was high and it would do a pilot project initially as a test case reports Business Line.