Green hydrogen can transform India from energy importer to energy provider and exporter: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

"Green hydrogen, along with other green fuels, could turn India's current $200 billion energy import bill into a $300 billion export advantage in the future," Puri said on the concluding day of the International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH) 2023, organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in New Delhi.

Puri noted that India has an advantage in terms of substantial demand and capacity to produce and store green hydrogen and meets all the critical requirements to become a hub for this green fuel.

The three-day conference witnessed deliberations, with more than 2,700 delegates, 135 speakers, seven plenary sessions, 16 technical sessions and four panel discussions.

He emphasized India's commitment to addressing climate change and stressed the importance of affordability, accessibility, and acceptability as key attributes for India's path to self-reliance in green hydrogen and furthering sustainable solutions.

Puri said that there is now a global consensus that we need to make a transition to renewable energy. “India has embarked on a new journey and requires active support and collaboration amongst all the stakeholders and with the recent launch of National Green Hydrogen Mission, the Government means business.”

He added that India is 4th in terms of installed renewable energy capacity and has achieved some of the lowest long term levelized costs for solar and wind power generation. “We have natural advantage in producing Green Hydrogen as we have abundance of solar energy and investments in our power grid. We have the apt climate, resources, adequate production and strong supply-chain for Green Hydrogen.”

The minister also talked about the financing difficulties in this sunrise sector.

"The European Investment Bank (EIB) has formally agreed to join the India Hydrogen alliance and increase support for developing large-scale Industry hub with a funding of 1 billion Euros. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently conveyed its intent to provide $20–$25 billion over five years to aid India’s aspirations for green growth. The World Bank has approved $1.5 billion in financing to support India’s low-carbon transition journey," Puri said.

The Petroleum Minister informed that several review meetings at Industry level are regularly being undertaken for finding out ways to boost the hydrogen production capacity in India. “We will ensure uptake of Green Hydrogen in refineries and City Gas Distribution (CGD) through both public sector entities and private sector and try to design new projects with maximum chances of hydrogen deployment to strategically phase out fossil fuels and aid decarbonization goals.” 

Terming PSUs as the major game changers for ensuring a smooth Green Hydrogen Economy transition the Petroleum Minister said, “The PSUs are focussed on ensuring a Hydrogen based economy. They have targeted to produce more than 1 MMT of Green Hydrogen by 2030. The global demand for hydrogen is expected to reach 200 million tons by the same time, basis the IEA report,” added Puri.

Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Hydrogen Mission will not only create jobs but will also boost global trade. He focussed on the three mantras of Affordability, Accessibility and Acceptability.