Six RE Players Form IGHPA for Hydrogen Advocacy

Six companies dealing in renewable energy (RE) have come together to form an independent advocacy group to give a fillip to the Hydrogen Sector in India.

It will be called as Independent Green Hydrogen Association (IGHPA) and the key objective of the forum is to engage with Government and other key stakeholders to realize the objective of the country to become an export destination in terms of green hydrogen and green ammonia.

The forum will also generate awareness among the masses. The six companies that have united for this purpose are: Azure Power, Acme Group, Fortum India, O2 Power, Sprng Energy and SunEdison Infrastructure. All six are established green energy developers, especially solar power. And it is no surprise that they feel the need to get organised, as green hydrogen in India by its very nature will demand gobs of solar and wind power, and policy making will need to be sensitive to the special needs of this new emerging segment.

Shashi Shekhar has been appointed as the Director General (DG) of the organization. He was previously the Secretary in the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. IGHPA is mandated to give technical, regulator and economic inputs to help evolution of policy framework and its subsequent implementation.

India’s Hydrogen Quest

The Union Budget of 2021-22 has announced the National Hydrogen Energy Mission (NHM) meant to create a roadmap for wider adoption of hydrogen as a source of energy in India. It’s one of the most abundant elements present on Earth and the Mission looks to capitalize on that.

The focus of NHM is to create green hydrogen through green power sources. The government has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 1500 crore for NHM and RE development. Experts have held that India can become a hub of green hydrogen production and export owing to its favourable geographical location and presence of natural elements in abundance.

In February, the government notified the first phase of the NHM for the development of green hydrogen and green ammonia. The target is to facilitate production in India through single window clearances, power banking, access to power markets, easing port storages, interstate power transmission charge waivers etc. The first phase targets RE procurement, hydrogen production, storage and distribution.

Companies like IOC, NTPC, BPCL, L&T, Jindal Steel and Reliance Industries and the Adani Group have announced their respective plans for hydrogen production in India. By some estimates, over $25 billion stands to be invested in the generation of green energy that will be needed to power the production plans of these firms by 2030.