Mrinalini Majumdar, Pune
India is climbing new heights this year. On August 19, the central government released Green Hydrogen Guidelines, which comprised electrolysis as well as biomass-based technologies. The government has recently published the Green Hydrogen Standards for India. It is a key step forward for the National Green Hydrogen Mission, according to an announcement from the New and Renewable Energy Ministry.
The Ministry’s regulations establish the emission criteria that need to be fulfilled to qualify for hydrogen generated to be designated green. This means it is derived from renewable sources. The initiative has a budget of Rs 19,744 crore for the years 2029-’30. With a budget of Rs 17,490 crore, the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) initiative is a key financial measure within the mission. There have been discussions with numerous stakeholders, including the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Following this, it has been decided to define Green Hydrogen to represent a well-to-gate emission of a maximum of 2 kg CO2 equivalent/kg H2 (including the treatment of water, electrolysis, gas purification, drying, and compression of hydrogen). The following: water treatment, electrolysis, gas purification, drying, and hydrogen compression are all part of the well-to-gate emission. This definition’s applicability includes both electrolysis-based and biomass-based hydrogen generation technologies.
The announcement further stipulates that the Ministry of Power’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) would be the Nodal Authority to obtain accreditation of agencies for monitoring, verification, including certification of Green Hydrogen production projects. The government proclaimed the National Green Hydrogen Mission earlier this year, along with the goal of producing 5 million metric tons (MMT) of green hydrogen annually by 2030, with an accompanying renewable energy generation capacity of around 125 gigatonnes (GW).
The Green Hydrogen Standard notice, it added, gives a great deal of transparency to the Green Hydrogen sector in India. The announcement has been greatly anticipated for a while now. Following this announcement, India is now one of the world’s first governments to declare a definition of Green Hydrogen.