India has identified significant standards and safety gaps across parts of its hydrogen value chain as projects move closer to deployment, highlighting unresolved questions around transport, storage and end-use applications even as certification frameworks and project plans continue to develop.
The India's Hydrogen Standards: Gap Assessment and Preliminary Action Framework report released last week by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) assessed 50 hydrogen sub-components across production, storage, transportation and end-use applications. It found that 12 sub-components were adequately covered by existing standards, while 15 had partial gaps and 23 lacked standards altogether.
The assessment identified some of the largest gaps in hydrogen transmission pipelines, repurposed natural gas pipelines, underground storage, tube trailers and plant piping systems. It also found incomplete standards coverage in end-use applications expected to play a role in future hydrogen demand, including shipping, aviation, railways, stationary fuel cells and off-road mobility.
The findings come as India's hydrogen industry begins moving beyond policy development and towards project execution.
Developers including AM Green and Acme have secured export-linked renewable ammonia offtake agreements, while domestic demand programmes for fertilizer producers and refiners continue to advance. India has also introduced a national green hydrogen definition, emissions standards for hydrogen derivatives and a certification scheme.
But the assessment found that standards coverage in transport, storage and several end-use applications is much more limited.
India has developed more than 90 hydrogen-related standards, including more than 34 led by MNRE, according to the report. It recommends adopting international standards in areas where no established framework exists.
The report also highlights international harmonisation as an important consideration for future trade in hydrogen, ammonia and related equipment.
Further development
Hydrogen transport infrastructure and related technical standards were frequently discussed during MNRE's recent World Hydrogen Day event in early October.
India's downstream regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board secretary Anjan Kumar Mishra said hydrogen blending pilots in city gas distribution networks had produced encouraging results, with no abnormal degradation observed in pipelines, valves and associated equipment at low blending levels. Four pilot projects have concluded and one remains under evaluation.
Additional testing would be required before higher hydrogen blend ratios or high-pressure transmission applications could be considered, Mishra said. Dedicated hydrogen test facilities are being developed to generate data needed for future regulations governing hydrogen transport and pipeline repurposing, he added.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has adopted or developed around 61 hydrogen standards and is working on seven more, according to BIS mechanical engineering department head Srikumar Animesh. BIS generally adopts international standards where possible but modifies requirements where domestic operating conditions or regulations differ, he said.
Testing and certification infrastructure emerged as another recurring theme. Risk management firm Apave's country manager for India, Nilay Ball, said India requires additional hydrogen-specific testing capability for components and systems including valves, regulators, electrolysers and fuel-cell assemblies. Developers require greater certainty around testing and certification pathways as projects move towards deployment, he added.
Safety specialists also highlighted areas under development. Chitra Rajagopal, fellow at the office of the government's principal scientific adviser, said hydrogen applications outside traditional industrial facilities would require site-specific risk assessments and additional safeguards. Participants also discussed the possible creation of a hydrogen incident and near-miss reporting framework to support future standards development and operational learning.
