By: ICN Bureau
Last updated : February 19, 2021 10:10 am
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.
Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India yesterday witnessed the signing of a Statement of Intent between IndianOil Corp and Greenstat Hydrogen India, a subsidiary of Greenstat Norway for setting up of Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen.
This association aims to develop a Center of Excellence on Hydrogen (CoE-H) including CCUS and Fuel Cells by IndianOil and Greenstat 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. The partnership between IndianOil 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.
Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan talked about the importance, Government of India is giving to exploration of new and emerging forms of energy. About India’s energy consumption, he said that 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. He called for greater synergy between science, technology and entrepreneurship to create win-win for all.
Speaking about hydrogen energy, Pradhan said, “We see hydrogen as the future energy.” He 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.
Ambassador of Norway to India Hans Jacob Frydenlund while speaking on the occasion, said that in the efforts to combat global climate change, use of green and renewable energy is paramount. 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. He also expressed happiness at the signing of statement of intent.
Speaking at the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo in November 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had 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 Government of India’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 extremely encouraging.