NTPC commissions India's first green hydrogen blending project

 NTPC Ltd commissions India's first green hydrogen blending project. The green hydrogen blending has been started in the piped natural gas (PNG) network of NTPC Kawas township, Surat. The project is a joint effort of NTPC and Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL).

The first molecule of green hydrogen from the project was set in motion by Shri P Ram Prasad, head of project, Kawas in presence of other senior executives of NTPC Kawas and GGL.

After the start of blending operation, NTPC Kawas held awareness workshops for township residents with help of GGL officials.

NTPC and GGL have worked relentlessly towards achieving this milestone in record time after the foundation stone laying by the Prime Minister Modi on 30th July 2022. This set-up is geared up to supply H2-NG (natural gas) to households of Kawas township at Adityanagar, Surat. Green hydrogen in Kawas is made by electrolysis of water using power from already installed 1 MW floating solar project.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the regulatory body has given approval for 5% vol./vol. blending of green hydrogen with PNG to start with and the blending level would be scaled phase wise to reach 20%.  Green hydrogen when blended with natural gas reduces CO2 emissions keeping net heating content same.

This feat is achieved only by few select countries like UK, Germany, and Australia etc. This would bring India at the centre stage of the global hydrogen economy. India would not only reduce its hydrocarbon import bill significantly but can also bring forex ashore by being a green hydrogen and green chemicals exporter to the world.

The Green Billions Ltd joins hands with Pune Municipal Corporation to extract green hydrogen from waste

Mumbai-based The GreenBillions Limited (TGBL) has joined hands with The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to set up its first plant in India to extract green hydrogen from biomass and municipal solid waste, reports Business Standard. This project aims to demonstrate the technological and financial feasibility of waste to hydrogen generation.

The GreenBillions specialises in consulting, managing, and executing sustainable initiatives, the paper says. TGBL deals with environment-friendly products and solutions. The company is currently investing in setting up plants that can extract clean and green hydrogen from biomass, water, and municipal solid waste.

The upcoming plant in Pune will be managed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Variate Pune Waste to Energy Pvt. Ltd. (VPWTEPL). The company will also utilise the municipal waste of 350 tonne per day (TPD) of Pune to generate hydrogen for a period of 30 years, said TGBL in a statement. Refuse derived fuel (RDF) extracted from the waste would later be used to generate hydrogen with the help of Plasma gasification technology. The waste will comprise biodegradable, non-biodegradable and domestic hazardous waste and would be segregated at the TheGreenBillions’s facility in Pune using optical sensor technology.

In the meantime, the firm is also in talks with other state municipalities across India to implement and set up similar plants in the future.

Prateek Kanakia, chairman and founder commented on the occasion and said, "With the rising demand from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to generate Clean Hydrogen, it is essential to find alternatives to foster clean hydrogen in the country. We recognise that an efficient garbage collection and disposal system is crucial for quality urban solid waste management. Especially in India, unsustainable garbage management affects living spaces for many cities. Our association with the Pune Municipal Corporation is a step forward in mitigating these demands.”

Generating hydrogen can help India achieve its decarbonisation goals while significantly reducing emissions from waste disposal.

"With this project, Pune city can reduce upto 2.5 million MT CO2e, more than 3.8 million MT waste would be diverted from the landfill and around more than 1,80,000 estimated households will be served directly. The Municipal solid waste (MSW) otherwise being dumped in low lying urban areas will be diverted, saving upto 689.5 cubic meter space every day and 25.16 hectare of precious land per year,” the official statement from Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) said

Tata Projects is sharpening its focus on the green hydrogen

 In order to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) solutions for green hydrogen plants, Pai stated that the company was developing its capacity to do so, reports energynews.

In a new project including the development of EPC solutions in collaboration with the Indian Oil Corp., the Tata Group intends to enter the green hydrogen market.

Leading Indian energy firms like Adani and Reliance Industries are making historic investments in green energy. Over the next five years, Tata Power Co. plans to invest more than $9.5 billion in renewable energy in an effort to nearly increase the proportion of clean energy in its portfolio.

One of the biggest stakeholders in renewable energy in India, Tata, is positioned Tata Power at the forefront to meet the evolving needs of the country’s renewable energy agenda. The Tata Group’s main objective is to provide the nation with clean, renewable energy derived from wind and solar energy.

A bill mandating the use of non-fossil energy sources like biomass, ethanol, and green hydrogen was approved by India’s Parliament in December. The Act includes measures to support renewable energy and the formation of a domestic carbon market to combat climate change, as well as penalties for violations by industrial units or boats as well as on manufacturers if a vehicle does not comply with fuel consumption rules.

No.2 in India? H2E Power to start producing electrolysers from April

Pune-based H2E Power Systems expects to start manufacturing electrolysers for producing green hydrogen from April, reports Business Line.

The company’s founder and CEO, Siddharth Mayur, has told the paper that it would manufacture electrolysers with all the four technologies — alkaline, proton exchange membrane, solid oxide and anion exchange membrane — spending $40 million for that purpose. The first plant, for 50 MW, slated to be commissioned in April, is coming up at Jalgaon in Maharashtra. 

Mayur said while the manufacturing infrastructure would be set up for 1 GW of electrolysers, H2E Power would start with 50 MW and move to 200 MW next year. Mayur said H2E Power has developed the technologies, though with technical help from the German Fraunhofer Institute. H2E Power owns the intellectual property. He said the company would showcase its 500 kW AEM electrolyser at the Hannover Messe fair, which is to be held in April.  AEM is an emerging technology, which is said to have the best of the cheap alkaline and the efficient PEM. Alkaline is said to be not-so-safe; PEM needs costly platinum group metals.

H2E Power is financially backed by the Poonawala family that owns the vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India. The family has an undisclosed stake in H2E Power.

Govt to take the lead in green hydrogen transition, unhappy with the West

From the informal conversations of the Indian energy minister, R K Singh, with journalists in Delhi, it appears that the government intends to take the lead in transition to green hydrogen.

Quoting the minister, the Mint reports that the Government would take up pilot projects for utilization of green hydrogen in shipping, road transport and production of green stee.

By 2027, two ships would be retrofit to run on green hydrogen and the required supply chain, port infrastructure, green ammonia bunkers and re-fueling facilities would be set up in the country, under the mission. 

Also, the Government plans to introduce phased deployment of hydrogen-fueled buses and trucks. In another pilot project, support would be provided to two steel plants blending or utilization of green hydrogen. 

Unhappy with West

The paper also quotes the minister as saying that the "huge subsidies" given by the developed world for the production of green hydrogen "would pose hurdles for Indian manufacturers".

The minister said: “The only challenge which the Indian industry faces is the huge subsidies announced by some developed countries for the manufacture of green hydrogen. We believe that it would be a distorting step which I think is actionable under WTO rules. He called upon the developed world should procure green hydrogen and green ammonia on a competitive basis.

Not enough renewable energy to get to 5 mt of green hydrogen

In a recent seminar in Chennai, the National Chemical Laboratory, which is a public funded research lab, based in Pune, outlined what it would take to produce 5 mt of green hydrogen. 

According to the lab’s Director, Dr Ashish Lele, 5 mt means the following: 

1. * 32 GW of electrolyser capacity (which is at sharp variance with the ‘15 GW’ mentioned by India’s energy minister, R K Singh 

2. * 115 million liters a day of water 

3. * 90 GW of solar and 38 GW of wind (the government of India has generally said ‘125 GW of renewable energy’) 

4. * 340,000 hectares of land 

5. * $86 billion of investments 

These, Lele said, would help avoid 30-40 million tons of carbon dioxide (government of India puts this at 50 m t) and save Rs 60,000 crore ($7.3 billion) of natural gas imports (government of India said ‘save Rs 100,000 crore [$12.15 billion] of fossil fuels.)  

India today has 62 GW of solar and 42 GW of wind, or 104 GW between the two. If 125 GW is to come up, by 2030, only for electrolysers it means doubling of existing capacity in 7 years—18 GW a year. This is a very tough task, nearly impossible, especially given that many of the current policies are not conducive for renewable energy. 

 

Indian cabinet approves $2.35 billion grant for green hydrogen, aims 5 mt by 2030

On January 4, 2023, the Indian government announced its National Green Hydrogen Mission, the core of which is the financial support by the government for setting up electrolyser plants, producing green hydrogen, pilot project, research and development and other “mission components” The total outlay for this, which will be dispensed over the years, is Rs 19,400 crore, or $ 2.357 billion. 

Calling it ‘Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition’, or SIGHT, the government said that the mission would engender green hydrogen capacity of 5 million tons by 2030—5 mt is the current production of hydrogen in India today, though not through ‘green’ means. 

The government reckons that the program would make way for an estimated $86 billion of investments in the green hydrogen sector, produce 600,000 new jobs, reduce fossil fuel imports of $12 billion in value and annually avoid 50 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. 

A press release of the government recognizes that there is more work to be done from the government’s side. It promises to do them in due course. “The Mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilization and export of Green Hydrogen.  Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Program (SIGHT), two distinct financial incentive mechanisms – targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of Green Hydrogen – will be provided under the Mission.  The Mission will also support pilot projects in emerging end-use sectors and production pathways.  Regions capable of supporting large scale production and/or utilization of Hydrogen will be identified and developed as Green Hydrogen Hubs.” 

“An enabling policy framework will be developed to support establishment of Green Hydrogen ecosystem.   A robust Standards and Regulations framework will be also developed.  Further, a public-private partnership framework for R&D (Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership – SHIP) will be facilitated under the Mission; R&D projects will be goal-oriented, time bound, and suitably scaled up to develop globally competitive technologies.  A coordinated skill development program will also be undertaken under the Mission.”