Adani Enterprises, Waaree Energies, Matrix Gas and Renewables, and Ohmium were among the winners of Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) auction to set up 1.5 GW of electrolyzer manufacturing capacities across India.

The manufacturing capacities will be set up under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s Tranche II of the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) program.

The tender was floated in March this year and was segmented into distinct buckets.

Bucket 2B focused on smaller units, with 100 MW also mandated to use domestically developed stack technology.

Bucket 2A required the 300 MW to be developed using indigenously developed stack technology.

Bucket 1 offered 1,100 MW of electrolyzer manufacturing capacity, allowing any stack technology.

Bidders were allowed to participate across all three buckets, with bid evaluations conducted in a tiered manner. Bucket 2B was prioritized, followed by Bucket 2A and Bucket 1. Any unallocated capacities were transferred from one bucket to the next in this sequence. The minimum and maximum bid capacities were set at 100 MW and 300 MW for Buckets 1 and 2A and 10 MW and 30 MW for Bucket 2B.

Bucket 2B saw Adani Enterprises, Eastern Electrolyser, Newtrace, and Suryaashish KA1 Solar Park (InSolare) recognized as winners.

Adani Enterprises, Eastern Electrolyser, and Newtrace each secured 30 MW.

Suryaashish KA1 Solar Park was allocated 10 MW.

The total bids received for Bucket 2B were 270 MW.

Bucket 2A saw Adani Enterprises and Newage Green Electro winning 71.5 MW and 228 MW, respectively.

The total bids received for Bucket 2A were 511.5 MW.

Bucket 1 saw Newage Green Electro, Waaree Energies, Matrix Gas and Renewables, Advait Infratech, Ohmium Operations, GH2 Solar, and Avaada Electrolyser emerge victorious.

Waaree Energies secured the largest share with 300 MW.

Matrix Gas and Renewables were awarded 237 MW.

Advait Infratech received 200 MW, while Ohmium Operations secured 137 MW.

GH2 Solar was allocated 105 MW, with Newage Green Electro and Avaada Electrolyser receiving 71.5 MW and 49.5 MW, respectively.

The total bids received for Bucket I were 1980.5 MW.

The electrolyzer’s guaranteed life must be a minimum of 60,000 hours, ensuring operational longevity. Additionally, its end-of-life efficiency should not decline below 80%, maintaining optimal performance throughout its lifespan. The specific energy consumption of the projects must be equal to or less than 56 kWh/kg of hydrogen production.

For alkaline electrolyzers, the local value addition percentage must be 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80% for years one to five; for Proton Exchange Membrane/ Solid Oxide Electrolyser/ Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyser/any other technology, the local value addition percentage must be 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 70% for years one to five.

The electrolyzer manufacturing facilities established under this tender will be granted 30 months from the date of issuance of the letter of award (LoA) to complete the commissioning of the entire manufacturing capacity.

The manufacturing facilities awarded under this tender will be eligible for quarterly incentives on sales of electrolyzers for five years from the commissioning date.

Early this year, SECI announced the auction winners to set up 1.5 GW electrolyzer manufacturing capacities across India under Tranche 1 of the SIGHT program.