India has initiated multiple green hydrogen pilot projects in its bid to achieve 8 million tons of green hydrogen capacity by 2030, the Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Power R.K. Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

The pilot projects include a 5 Nm3/h (normal cubic meter per hour) Green Hydrogen production project based on solar energy and electrolysis in Gurugram, Haryana and a 6 kg per hour green hydrogen production project based on biomass gasification in IISc Bangalore.

The minister said both projects are covered under the ministry’s research and development segment and aim to help increase the limited production of green hydrogen in the country.

Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission to facilitate demand creation, production, utilization, and export of green hydrogen with an initial outlay of ₹197.4 billion (~$2.39 billion).

The mission aims to provide an action plan to establish a green hydrogen ecosystem and develop and scale up its production technology while making it affordable and widely accessible.

The minister also informed Parliament about a few other pilot projects set up in the country for the production of green hydrogen not directly governed by the MNRE.

In April last year, Oil India, a Government of India enterprise, commissioned the country’s only pure green hydrogen pilot plant with an installed capacity of 10 kg per day at its Jorhat Pump Station in Assam.

In January this year, NTPC and Gujarat Gas commissioned India’s first green hydrogen blending project in the piped natural gas network of NTPC Kawas township of Surat in Gujarat.

The pilot projects also include a green ammonia project by ACME in Bikaner, Rajasthan, to produce green hydrogen at a rate of 500 Nm3/h – about 175 tons per annum.

The minister added that none of these pilot projects received any subsidy from the Government of India.

Mercom had reported the commissioning of Larsen and Toubro’s green hydrogen facility at its AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex in Hazira, Gujarat, to produce 45 kg of green hydrogen daily for captive consumption.

Green hydrogen is considered the cheap and green alternative to widely used fossil fuels.

In India, green hydrogen has seen an increased interest amongst investors and power generators.

Recently, Singh suggested that India is looking at green hydrogen to play a central role in reaching the 500 GW non-fossil capacity target.

In February this year, the Department of Science and Technology and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems signed a letter of intent for a long-term collaboration focusing on hydrogen and other clean technologies.

Also, the European Investment Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the India Hydrogen Alliance to provide €1 billion (~$1.06 billion) to develop large-scale green hydrogen hubs and projects across India.