India considers bids, mandate for green hydrogen

India is planning to launch a bidding process for green hydrogen production and considering making it mandatory for some companies to buy the product, as part of moves to reduce reliance on thermal fuels.

The government will ask for bids to produce green hydrogen in 3-4 months and also require some state-controlled companies to meet a portion of their energy needs through the product, similar to the renewable energy mandate that exists in the electricity sector, power minister Alok Kumar said. Further details are unavailable.

A separate draft policy is being prepared by India's ministry of new and renewable energy under which state-run fertilizer producers and oil refiners would be required to use some hydrogen, starting in April 2023 and running for seven years.

The oil ministry is also planning to change the definition of mineral oil to include hydrogen under the country's Oilfields Development Act, in an attempt to encourage hydrogen production. The act allows upstream firms to explore and extract oil in India.

India is already working on a hydrogen policy and a 2021-30 road map for the use of green hydrogen, solar power and biomass.

Delhi has a target to install 175GW of renewable capacity by 2022 and 450GW by 2030. India had 95GW of renewable capacity as of April, with less than 10pc of actual generation coming from renewable sources.

But India is well short of meeting its 2022 target, partly because of Covid-19 but also as states including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have reneged on renewable power purchase agreements.

Global energy and industrial firms led by Indian private-sector conglomerate Reliance Industries and US-based engineering company Chart Industries earlier this year formed an energy transition coalition — the India H2 Alliance (IH2A) — to commercialise hydrogen technology and systems to help develop a net-zero carbon pathway in India.

The government also plans to issue bids to install 1,000MW of battery capacity, Kumar said. Details are not available.

By S Dinakar