Last month, the state-run oil marketing company cancelled its tender to set up its first green hydrogen plant at its Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Haryana. The move came after a group of renewable energy firms moved court amid allegations that the nation's largest fuel retailer made "tailored" tender norms favouring a joint venture that included IOCL.
Indian Oil did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
The now cancelled tender included a clause of ROFR (right of first refusal), which The Independent Green Hydrogen Producers Association (IGHPA) alleged was designed in favour of IOCL’s JV company GH4 India. IGHPA filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in November against the oil ministry, IOCL, and JV company GH4 India citing "discriminatory" clauses.
IOCL incorporated the JV company GH4 India along with L&T Ltd and ReNew Power on August 25, 2023, three days before it floated tenders for the plant. Later, the company was declared the sole bidder when the bids were opened in December.
Sources in the know said that the JV partners also had concerns that going ahead with the tender, which was being challenged by their peers, may hurt their standing in the market.
The dispute
In November, the IGHPA, which comprises six renewable energy firms, filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the oil ministry, IOCL, and the JV company GH4 India. The companies contested clauses 19 and 20 of the tender which they labelled as " discriminatory".
Clause 19 referred to the ROFR, or purchase preference for GH4 India. It stated that the IOCL JV will be allowed to match the Lowest Levelised cost of Hydrogen (LLCOH) of the lowest bidder through the reverse auction process if it does not participate in the reverse auction or does not become the lowest bidder, while Clause 20 permitted IOCL to not accept the lowest bid.
Typically, in a reverse auction, bidders compete to be selected as sellers by the buyer by quoting low prices and underbidding each other.
Green hydrogen potential
In a report on the green hydrogen space last week, consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal said that India needs to be bold and plan a large outlay of $4–12 billion for its green hydrogen programme.
“For India, the case to aggressively support green hydrogen is strong. By moving early, we can stake a claim to a larger share of the global energy trade, substitute some of our imports, especially LNG, and spur domestic GDP growth. By 2030, this could lead to $3–5 billion of exports and $7–15 billion of import substitution, opening the doors to a much larger opportunity in the decades ahead,” the report said.
