Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood said that successful deployment of green hydrogen requires an integrated approach, necessitating collaboration across borders, sectors and stakeholders. “All of us need to develop comprehensive regulatory frameworks, financial mechanisms and supportive policies, incentivizing investment and a level playing field for green hydrogen technologies.”

He informed that an advisory committee set up under National Green Hydrogen Mission has prepared a draft report on the R&D required to support a green hydrogen ecosystem in India. The report can be accessed here and is now open for public and stakeholder comments.

Presenting key findings of the draft report, the Principal Scientific Advisor said that the target set under National Hydrogen Mission, of producing at least 5 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of Green Hydrogen per annum by 2030, will require 60 GW – 100 GW electrolyser capacity and 125 GW renewable energy capacity. He informed that this will avert carbon dioxide emissions by 50 MMT per annum, create around 600,000 jobs and bring in 100 billion dollars of investment.

Sood said that the technology challenges identified in the draft report involve enhancement of efficiency, improving cost effectiveness, achieving scale, ensuring safety of green hydrogen technologies and integrating storage, transport and grid infrastructure. The R&D framework under the National Green Hydrogen Mission envisages a Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership (SHIP), which would be a Public Private Partnership framework with dedicated R&D funds with inputs from industry and government. The plan would involve building strategic international partnerships and long-shot research in breakthrough areas as well. Efforts will be made to spur innovation to enhance affordability, efficiency, safety and reliability of systems. Prof. Sood underlined the need for encouraging innovative MSMEs and startups, Centres of Excellence and broad-based solutions for addressing various research areas.

Sood said that the draft roadmap envisages classification of projects into grand challenge projects, mission mode projects and blue sky projects. These three types of projects have been identified across three verticals, namely hydrogen production; storage and transportation; and end use applications. He said that after obtaining public comments and adoption of final R&D roadmap by the government, R&D project proposals will be called for and projects will be awarded based on the same. The Principal Scientific Adviser expressed that these efforts will help us make India a strong hydrogen economy in the coming years.