The Indian government is giving utmost importance to exploration of new and emerging forms of energy and sees hydrogen as the fuel of the future.
This was stated by Dharmendra Pradhan, the minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, during the signing of a Statement of Intent between Indian Oil and Greenstat Hydrogen India, a subsidiary of Greenstat Norway for setting up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Hydrogen. “We see hydrogen as the future energy,” Pradhan observed.
India is the third-largest energy consumer with growing energy demand, making it the place to be, for any energy entrepreneur in any part of the globe. Pradhan called for greater synergy between science, technology and entrepreneurship to create a win-win for all.
The association between Indian Oil and Greenstat aims to develop a Center of Excellence on Hydrogen (CoE-H) including CCUS and Fuel Cells for clean energy in cooperation with Indo-Norwegian Hydrogen Cluster companies/organizations.
The CoE-H will facilitate transfer and sharing of technology, know-how and experience through the green Hydrogen value chain and other relevant technologies including hydrogen storage and fuel cells. The CoE-H will be a vehicle for promoting R&D projects in Green and Blue Hydrogen between Norwegian and Indian R&D institutions/universities.
Working closely with industry and governments on both sides, the CoE-H will be also be levering its intellectual strengths in developing cost-efficient and scalable and sustainable technological solutions. The CoE will pilot fuel cell research and also act as a think-tank towards developing codes and standards for best industrial practices, safety, product protocols and regulations in the area of hydrogen and fuel cells.
The partnership between Indian Oil and Greenstat will actively assist partners/stakeholders to develop business models based upon feasibility studies besides facilitating consultancies to industry, utilities and regulators on hydrogen storage, hydrogen production, refueling stations, fuel cells and CCUS technologies.
Pradhan also expressed happiness at the encouraging results being shown by the pilot project under which 50 buses in Delhi are running on hydrogen-CNG fuel.
"Despite not being a polluting country, India is committed to reducing its emissions and contributing to the global fight against climate change, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment at the COP21," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Hans Jacob Frydenlund, the Ambassador of Norway to India, said that use of green and renewable energy is paramount in the efforts to combat global climate change. He talked about Norway’s strength and experience in green energy and expressed willingness to work together with India in the area of hydrogen energy.
PM Modi had, during the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo in November 2020, highlighted the importance of niche renewable technologies like hydrogen in the renewable energy mix. Pursuant to that, launch of the National Hydrogen Energy Mission was announced in the budget 2021-22. The National Hydrogen Energy Mission aims to lay down the Indian government's vision, intent and direction for hydrogen energy, strategies and approaches for realizing the vision.
A pilot project for blending hydrogen with compressed natural gas for use as transportation fuel is running at Rajghat Bus depot in Delhi. Under this pilot, 50 buses in Delhi are plying on blended Hydrogen in Compressed Natural Gas and results are encouraging.
