The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned total three pilot projects in the steel sector - Matrix Gas and Renewables Ltd. (consortium members Gensol Engineering Ltd. and Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Metsol AB, Sweden) with pilot plant capacity of 50 tons-per-day (TPD); Simplex Castings Ltd (consortium member: BSBK Pvt. Ltd., Ten Eight Investment,and  IIT Bhilai) with pilot plant capacity of 40 TPD; and Steel Authority of India Ltd. (Ranchi) with plant capacity 3,200 TPD under National Green Hydrogen Mission.  

The total financial support made available will be Rs. 347 crore from the Government of India. These pilot projects are likely to be commissioned in the next three years, paving way to the scale up of such technologies in India.

Earlier the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had issued guidelines for Implementation of Pilot projects in the Steel Sector under this Mission. The objectives of the scheme were to identify advanced technologies for utilizing green hydrogen in steelmaking, through pilot projects.

These pilot projects can demonstrate safe and secure operations of green hydrogen-based steel making processes, validating technical feasibility and performance, evaluating their economic viability thereby leading to low-carbon iron and steel production.

Accordingly, the proposals were invited for three components: Pilot project to produce DRI using 100% Hydrogen using vertical shaft; Use of Hydrogen in Blast Furnace to reduce coal/coke consumption; and Injection of Hydrogen in vertical shaft based DRI making unit.

The National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched on 4th January 2023 with an outlay of Rs. 19,744 crores up to FY 2029-30. It will contribute to India’s goal to become Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) through clean energy and serve as an inspiration for the global Clean Energy Transition. The Mission will lead to significant decarbonization of the economy, reduced dependence on fossil fuel imports, and enable India to assume technology and market leadership in Green Hydrogen.