Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Rameswar Teli on Wednesday said that oil and gas sector PSUs have a target of setting up 0.7 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) green hydrogen manufacturing capacity.
Besides, the PSUs are also working on establishing 120 kilo tonnes of green hydrogen capacity by 2025-26, Teli said in his address at the a three-day international conference on green hydrogen (ICGH 2023).
The Minister also informed the participating delegates about various projects being undertaken by the oil and gas sector PSUs dealing with various stages of the green hydrogen value chain.
This includes state-run Oil India, which has initiated a pilot plan for mixing green hydrogen in gas pipelines in Jorhat (Assam). For this, the company is manufacturing 10 kg of green hydrogen per day. Besides, the gas utility GAIL has started a project of mixing 2 per cent green hydrogen in piped natural gas (PNG) in Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Teli said.
Advancing technologies
“Engineers India (EIL) and IIT Kanpur are studying the impact of green hydrogen on city gas distribution (CGD) pipelines. The initial report has been submitted, which suggests that 3 per cent green hydrogen can be mixed in CGD pipelines without any adverse effects,” he added.
The Minister also informed about studies being undertaken for running hydrogen fuel cells powered buses and on storage technologies.
India’s annual demand for hydrogen is around 6 million tonnes, which accounts for about 6 per cent of the global demand.
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The Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Ajay K Sood in his address said the conference aims to explore how India can establish a green hydrogen ecosystem and foster a systemic approach for meeting the global goals for decarbonisation.
Apart from domain-specific research interactions on hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and downstream applications, the conference will also discuss green financing, human resource upskilling, and startup initiatives in this area.
The three-day conference, which began on Wednesday, will witness experts from countries such as India, the US, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Africa, etc deliberate on various aspects of the green hydrogen value chain.
The conference is being organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).