Tamil Nadu will release a policy on Green Hydrogen in two months. Three companies — Acme, Petronas and Hygenco — have evinced interest in setting up their units in the State, said Industry Minister TRB Rajaa. “We want to be the global green hydrogen hub in the near future,” he added.

“While the Centre has a target of five MMT in the near future, the Tamil Nadu government has already signed deals for two MMT and we should be rolling out in eight-nine months. Some of it is ready and some of it is in financial closure. We will have a good package for electrolyser manufacturing in the policy,” he said in a discussion on opportunities and challenges related to electrolyser manufacturing, organised jointly by Guidance Tamil Nadu and UK Government.

The investment by the three companies can collectively bring in ₹ one lakh crore in green hydrogen in TN, said sources.

The policy will contain all aspects of manufacturing of electrolyser, incentives, the right technology and applications, said Industry Secretary S Krishnan told businessline.

The new oil

Speaking at the event, Krishnan said green hydrogen has the scope in the days to come to be new oil and the source of energy that drives the world. Tamil Nadu has distinct advantages, including being a coastal State, besides access to renewable energy and the size of the grid within the State and its connectivity with the rest of the country is very large.

A lot of interest has come in from the private sector to invest in the sector in the State. To begin with, it is primarily in the area of export of green hydrogen or green ammonia for use across the world, especially in East Asia and Europe. “While we have been proactive in supporting some of these initiatives, the first commercial initiative in green hydrogen supported anywhere in India is in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

“We have now taken a bit of a pause to finalise our own policy on green hydrogen. We believe that it cannot be one-off for exports. The size of the subsidy that the Tamil Nadu government would be expected to pay out for green hydrogen export makes it difficult to accommodate all of that in one go. A lot of it is intended for export and a lot of it goes to other markets that are trying to decarbonise, this raises its own set of issues,” he said.

The important issue is how to share the subsidy with the Centre and possibly with governments that import the green hydrogen manufactured here. The other aspect is to encourage domestic consumption of green hydrogen, he said.

UK’s Minister for Energy Security and Net-Zero, Graham Stuart said, “I have been impressed by Tamil Nadu’s efforts to adopt low carbon energy sources, boost green jobs and growth across the State, while strengthening both its energy and climate security. The UK is delighted to be partnering with Tamil Nadu on both offshore wind and green hydrogen.”

At the event, a project on Green Hydrogen Electrolyser Manufacturing Ecosystem Assessment was launched. Oliver Ballhatchet, British Deputy High Commissioner for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and Nishant Krishna, Executive Director, Guidance Tamil Nadu, exchanged the document on this.

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