India's 5MMT Green Hydrogen Goal: 'Realistic'? Industry Insiders Decode

2025 is around the corner, and we are just five years shy of India's goal to produce at least 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of green hydrogen annually by 2030. Can India achieve its targets?

India's 5MMT Green Hydrogen Goal: What Industry Expects Say

Someshwer Dutt Sharma, CTO, of Gensol is of the view that 'infrastructure bottlenecks in terms of land and fresh water' could be hurdles as India attempts to scale the task. “Green Hydrogen means you have to generate power from solar and wind," he said, which are inherently variable in nature. Currently, the government does not allow 100 percent of the energy banking, making it difficult to run the electrolyzer for 24 hours. “Few states have given banking for only a certain percentage,” he said, adding that these states allow energy banking activity for energy storage for only a few hours daily.

Secondly, the prime requirement for green hydrogen projects will be derivatives. Hydrogen transportation is complicated, so companies transport derivatives like Ammonia. The companies also,"need confirmed off-takers.” said Sharma, “SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India), in its tender, has provided confirmed buyers, mostly fertilizer companies. They need Hydrogen for their products. The state and centre are to identify the confirmed off-takers and make policies or obligations, like those in the renewable sector, for mandatory purchase.” he added.

The other major hurdles which are being addressed are infrastructure of ports and pipelines to transfer the gas.

What Can The Government Do?

“Government can help with the availability of land near ports and fresh water availability,” Sharma said. Strengthening the banking (of energy) policy is also required. Industry insiders also believe that the high cost of production, for the reasons given by industry experts, leads to a lack of viable domestic demand. So, policy interventions such as tax exemption, subsidy, lower interest rates, etc, are the need of the hour. Pipeline infrastructure is an investment the government will have to make. Dedicated storage facilities and logistics infrastructure will also be required for derivatives like Green ammonia and green Methanol.

“There is also a lack of Green Credit Trading Market, and there is an urgent need to develop a robust market-based mechanism to facilitate trading of Green Credits to be accrued by entities from Green Hydrogen Projects. This will also lower the cost of production,” said an industry insider.  

Is It A Realistic GoaL?

"5MMT by 2030 is not a big task,” says Sharma. The first step is to identify the obstacles, and the second is to provide policies around electricity banking. Private companies are trying to accelerate the adaptation of Green Hydrogen by developing the required ecosystem. Sharma’s confidence is not unfounded, with major Indian companies already having taken concrete steps towards manufacturing Green Hydrogen in India. Here is a brief list of major initiatives in India.

Reliance Industries has partnered with Stiesdal A/S, a Danish renewable energy technology company, to develop and scale green hydrogen technology. Stiesdal specializes in innovative, low-cost electrolyzer solutions, which are crucial for producing green hydrogen affordably. Reliance has also signed an agreement with the US-based electrolyzer manufacturer Plug Power. This partnership aims to establish a large-scale hydrogen ecosystem in India, combining Reliance’s energy infrastructure with Plug Power’s expertise in electrolyzer technology, fuel cells, and hydrogen production systems.

The Adani Group has formed a strategic partnership with Cavendish Hydrogen Electrolyzer, Gensol is working with Matrix Gas. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has partnered with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and ReNew Power to establish green hydrogen production facilities in India.
IOC is collaborating with Air Products, a US-based industrial gas company, to explore advanced hydrogen production technologies and infrastructure development.

NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) has partnered with Siemens Energy and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to advance its green hydrogen initiatives.
GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) has taken steps toward green hydrogen production and has partnered with Larsen & Toubro (L&T)
L&T has partnered with McPhy and Greenko partnered with John Cockerill to manufacture electrolyzers in India.

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Green Hydrogen world leaders in this renewables space are Air Products, Plug Power, Nextra, and AES from the USA; IMT, BP, and Equinor from the UK; and Siemens, Shell, Total, and Engie from Europe. Many of these companies have a global presence and would leverage their Solar and Wind capacities to produce green hydrogen in the countries where they have a business presence.

“Yes, the 5 MMTPA Green Hydrogen production target seems realistic, subject to various planned Projects achieving FID & Construction in the next 1-2 years. Further, this target would be achievable if firm export demand also exists, as creating viable domestic demand under the current scenario of high cost of production would be challenging.” said the industry insider.