New Delhi: Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, on Friday said state-run oil refiners have floated tenders for 42 kilotonne per annum of green hydrogen capacity, and tenders for another 128 kilotonne will be issued.
Taking to social media platform X post a stakeholder consultation, the minister said these initiatives will be implemented at an estimated cost of ₹2 trillion.
He also said nine research and development (R&D) or demo plants are under construction and four have been commissioned by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL), Gail India Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL).
“42 KTPA tenders have been floated by the refineries while 128 more will be issued by PSU refineries based on the outcome of those tenders. These initiatives will be implemented at a cost of an estimated ₹2,00,000 crores,” he wrote.
Alternative sources of energy are playing an important role in India’s quest towards green energy transition, Puri added.
“In an engaging interaction with a large number of stakeholders of the green hydrogen sector we discussed efforts being undertaken in all four verticals of the rapidly emerging sector—production, transportation, storage & application,” he said.
Green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, can directly replace fossil fuel-derived feedstock in petroleum refining, fertilizer production, and steel manufacturing.
Petroleum refining is a focus area for the government for adoption of green hydrogen to replace grey hydrogen. About 5 million metric tonne (MMT) of grey hydrogen is consumed annually in India, with about 99% of this utilized in petroleum refining and for manufacturing ammonia for fertilizers.
On 30 May, state-run IOCL finalised the levelized cost of hydrogen for setting up a 10,000 tonne per annum green hydrogen generation unit at its Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex.
In a statement, the company said it marked Indian Oil’s entry into the green hydrogen space with India’s largest-ever green hydrogen project so far. Slated for commissioning by December 2027, the green hydrogen produced will replace fossil-derived hydrogen in refinery operations, resulting in substantial reduction in carbon emissions.
In April, BPCL commissioned a 5 MW green hydrogen plant at the Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh. The facility is expected to produce over 780 tonne of hydrogen per year.
