Rama Krishna Sangem
The Central government is likely to come out with a rule to compulsory usage of green hydrogen in the country, secretary in the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) Bhupinder Singh Bhalla said on July 7, Friday. The senior ministry official was addressing a three day International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH-2023) in Delhi. This is the first sign of India emerging a serious player of green hydrogen.
“We have a provision for that in the (hydrogen) mission. You know the energy conservation act has been amended and now there is a legal provision to enforce the mandate whenever it is decided. These are the kinds of enabling steps towards having a mandate as and when we decide, but we haven’t decided yet,” Bhalla said in reply to a question on a mandate for usage of green hydrogen.
The government is first trying to figure out whether it can collate demand, aggregate and make it more clear for the industry to set up production facilities and in due course of time in consultation with the concerned ministries and the sectors a call will be taken in this regard, he added. India has made an allocation of Rs 19,744 crore for the National Green Hydrogen Mission in January 2023.
Good response from foreign industryt
Bhalla said that export related topics were also discussed during a round-table at the conference. Singapore, Korea and Japan along with the EU participated in the round-table. Representatives of these countries, officials of the Indian government and industry players attended the session.
Out of the planned green hydrogen production by 2030 under the mission, around 70 per cent would be for export, the secretary said. The official also informed that in another round-table, various industry players, senior central government officials along with those of various coastal states participated.
“Against an expectation of 1,500, the event witnessed over 2,700 participants,” the secretary said. He further said the government is also working on skilling and re-skilling the workforce for smooth transition to green hydrogen.
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will take steps in coordination with MNRE and other ministries for building skillsets ensuring employability in this sector. Suitable courses and programmes will be developed for skilling of manpower across the value chain, including manufacturing of equipment, green hydrogen project installation, and operations and maintenance.
Other important areas like green finance of hydrogen projects, its storage, transport, codes, framework, research and development related topics, and pilot projects were also discussed.
